Income Tax employees agitation ends, see what they could achieve

1.       Functioning of CPC. Agreed to go by the agreement between CBDT and JCA.  Further discussion to find solution will be held after 10.09.2010.  Human Resource Directorate will be asked to undertake evaluation of manpower in the Department for the care-taking staff.

2.      (a) Reimbursement of Mobile Phone Charges.  Discussion with BSNL is in progress to implement the scheme approved by the Finance Minister.  May take one more month to implement the scheme.  In any case, the scheme will be operationalised by October, 2010.

(b) Efforts are being taken to justify the requirement of Laptops to other Officers to get the Govt.'s sanction.

(c)Proposal has been sent for financial approval to provide one more computers to each ward/circle and two computers to each range.

3    Publish civil list without any further loss of time. On the lines it was issued till 2006.  Publish seniority list of Group B C & D employees as per board's instructions on an annual basis. It was stated that the DI (HRD) has prepared the Civil list and the same will be submitted to the Board on obtaining the signature of the DG(HRD) who is to resume duty on Ist September, 2010. The Board will take steps to publish the same within a few days time.

4.   The transfer of ACIT/DCIT who has completed 2 years cooling period will be considered at the time of promotion orders of ACIT for 2009-10 are issued.

5.   Framing of Recruitment Rules for the Multi Tasking Staff is in the final stage.  On its approval, the existing vacancies will be filled up .

6.   DPC for ACIT for the year 2009-10 is over the orders will be issued shortly.  Preparation for DPC for the year 2010-11 is in the final stage.  Promotion orders for DCIT will be issued within 10 days.  DPC for the post of JCIT will be held in the second half of September, 2010.

7.   Pay anomaly matter between the Direct recruits and promotes has already been taken up and the same is being pursued with the Dept. of Exp. JCA is to give note on justification of up-gradation of Pay of AO/PS enabling the Board to take up the matter.

8.   As in above

9.   Cadre composition of Group C Staff as suggested by the ITEF requires further clarification and discussion.  The next meeting will take place on 29^th of September, 2010.

10. The notification for Deptl. Examination 2010 has been issued incorporating the suggestions of the ITEF.

11. Pending vigilance cases will be disposed off shortly.  JCA to give list of long pending cases.

12. Report of the Cadre Restructuring Committee has been sent to the Secretary, Revenue and discussions have taken place.  Approval of the Revenue Secretary is awaited to pursue the matter with other Govt. Agencies.
Source : ITEF
View the ITGOA version :

The JCA (CHQ) leaders viz. S/Shri B. Shanthi Kumar, Rajesh Menon, R.S. Meel, K.P. Rajgopal, Ashok Salunkhe, Amitava De & K.K.N. Kutty had discussions with Member(P) on 31-08-2010 at 2-00PM on all the issues of the Charter of Demands.  During the discussions, Member (P) had given a detailed account of progress made on the issues appearing in the 12 point charter of demand and gave positive assurances as under :

1. Civil List will be released within one week.

2. Promotions of ITO to ACIT - Orders will be issued by 15/09/2010.  Proposal for 2010-11 is ready and will be submitted immediately after issuing the promotion order of RY 2009-10.

3. Promotions of ACIT to DCIT - Orders will be issued by 15/09/2010.

4. Promotions of DCIT to JCIT - UPSC Chairman, who is presently out of India will be back in office on 13/09/2010 and as per Member (P) the DPC is expected to be held between 20 & 25 September, 2010.

5. Transfer of ACIT/DCIT – The 15 officers of west Bengal and all cases of completion of 2 year cooling off period and compassionate cases will be considered in the posting orders consequent to promotion of ITO to ACIT.

6. The GP of 4800 to AO-III & PS will be taken up with Dept. of Expenditure, on the lines of ITGOA's note justifying the said demand.

7. The issue of LAPTOPs to AO & PS/Sr PS will be positively reconsidered.

8. Revised Examination rules as demanded by ITEF have been issued.  

9. Reimbursement of Mobile Phone charges for all will be operational within a month i.e. expected to begin from 01-10-2010.

10. Vigilance matters pending for long will be expedited and towards this ITGOA's suggestion to appoint Addl. CIT (Inquiry) would also be positively considered.

11. Issue of outsourcing with special reference to CPC and processing of returns will be discussed with JCA in detail, with all factual inputs and an amicable settlement will be arrived at after discussion with Chairman.   

The Member (P) also assured to give minutes of the meeting with above assurances, within a week's time and has proposed a monthly meeting with JCA for discussing all pending issues. Then he also requested the JCA to re-consider the ongoing agitation program in view of the above mentioned progress and assurances on all the issues in the charter of demand. 

Analyzing the entire situation and also considering the opinion of our JCA partners, that we have to give the Board and also our membership, some breathing time and create a congenial atmosphere for enabling the assurances to fructify, it was decided to call-off the ongoing agitation

Income Tax Dept Exam : Latest modification with Time Table

Directorate of Income Tax (IT) has issued notification VI notifying the Amended Rules, the scheme of Examination for Partially Qualified Candidates of Old Pattern and SC/ST candidates aiming for betterment of their result. As per the Notification, the Ministerial Exam 2010 shall be held in the Old Pattern only.


View the Notification


Amended Dept Exam Rule for ITOs


Amended Dept Exam Rule for ITIs


Time Table for Dept Exam 2010

Special Pay for Group A officers in Directorates and advance increments for staff restored

10% Special pay for Gr A officers in different directoratee and CBDT with a maximum of 4000 Rs has been restored.


CBDT also clarifies that official passing Dept. Examinations will be continuing to get two advance increments as per earlier entitlement.


View the O.M.

Tax code offers relief - Exemption limit raised, retirement benefit safe

The Union cabinet today approved a direct tax code that seeks to raise the tax-free income limit to Rs 2 lakh a year from Rs 1.6 lakh at present.

The 25 per cent increase in the threshold promises relief to nearly 30 million taxpayers in the country. (See chart)

Women and senior citizens will be eligible for higher limits but these were not immediately available. At present, the tax-free limit for women is capped at Rs 1.9 lakh and that for senior citizens at Rs 2.4 lakh.

The tax code — which will be presented in the form of a bill in Parliament — also aims to scrap the various cesses and surcharges on corporate tax and waive taxes on retirement benefits.

“The objective of the tax code is to limit the number of tax exemptions and simplify tax laws,” finance minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters after the cabinet meeting.

The tax code carries indicative tax slabs but it will be Parliament’s prerogative to decide on the eventual rates, officials said.

Sources said the indicative slabs have suggested a 10 per cent tax on incomes between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 5 lakh, 20 per cent on incomes between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, and 30 per cent on incomes above Rs 10 lakh.

The corporate tax rate for domestic companies is being retained at 30 per cent. However, the surcharges which add up to another 3 per cent will be scrapped. The first draft of the tax code had proposed to lower the corporate tax rate to 25 per cent but this is being put off for now, the officials added.

The officials said savings of up to Rs 2 lakh may be tax-free, which is currently capped at Rs 1 lakh. These would cover investments in approved securities that are likely to “include fixed deposits, small savings, insurance and other savings products”.

As a result, individuals who plan their taxes carefully could get away without paying taxes on an income of up to Rs 4.5 lakh.

Officials confirmed that all retirement benefits and pension savings would remain tax-free, quelling widespread concern over the application of the exempt-exempt-tax (EET) regime that former finance minister P. Chidambaram had tried to usher in through the first draft of the direct tax code. This would have taxed savings at the last stage when these instruments matured.

However, Mukherjee took a politically wise decision not to tax retiring employees, which would have inflamed passions and increased the paperwork for tax collectors.

Money parked in the general provident fund, public provident fund, recognised provident funds run by companies, pension schemes run by the pension regulator, and pure life insurance products will also remain tax-exempt at all stages.

Similarly, retirement benefits including money which workers get from voluntary retirement schemes will be totally exempt from tax up to a limit to be determined by the government. In the earlier draft, these benefits were supposed to be taxed.

Officials said the new code would not compute the perquisite value of rent-free housing provided by companies based on market value, as had been earlier proposed. Medical benefits and leave travel allowance will also not be treated as taxable perquisites while computing the gross salary for tax purposes. In the case of houses let out by owners, the gross rent for taxation will be the actual rent received.

Officials said the revised draft allowed deduction in capital gains made on the sale of shares held for more than a year.

Source : The Telegraph

Cabinet gives nod to Direct Taxes Code Bill

The Cabinet on Thursday approved Direct Taxes Code (DTC) Bill, clearing decks for tabling the legislation in the Monsoon Session of Parliament so that the new Act ushering in reduced tax rates and exemptions may come into effect from next fiscal. 

The Cabinet cleared the bill, highly placed sources said. When enacted, DTC will replace the archaic Income Tax Act and simplify the whole direct tax regime in the country. 

The code aims at reducing tax rates, but expanding the tax base by minimising exemptions. 

The Finance Ministry had earlier come out with a draft on the DTC bill, some of whose provisions drew strong criticism from industry as well as the public. 

To address those issues, the ministry brought out the revised draft, dropping earlier proposals of taxing provident funds on withdrawal and levying Minimum Alternate Tax on corporates based on their assets. 

"As of now, it is proposed to provide the EEE (Exempt- Exempt-Exempt) method of taxation for Government Provident Fund (GPF), Public Provident Fund (PPF) and Recognised Provident Funds (RPF) ...", the revised DTC released by the Finance Ministry said. 

The revised draft also puts pensions administered by the interim regulator PFRDA, including pension of government employees who were recruited since January 2004, under EEE treatment. 

The first DTC draft had proposed to tax all savings schemes including provident funds at the time of withdrawal bringing them under the EET (Exempt-Exempt-Tax) mode. 

Under the EEE mode, the tax exemption is enjoyed at all the three stages--investment, accumulation and withdrawal. 

As regards MAT, it has been clarified that tax would be levied on the book profit, as is the current practice, and not on gross assets has proposed in the draft. The government, Mitra said, had received 1,600 representations on the first draft which was made public in August last year. 

The second draft, however, did not give any details on the income tax structure such as the slabs or rates, which were provided in the first draft released in August 2009. 

The first draft had suggested 10 per cent tax on income from Rs 1.60-10 lakhs and 20 per cent on income between Rs 10-25 lakhs and 30 per cent beyond that. However, officials later said these slabs were illustrative. 

The officials said the tax rates would be made known only in the proposed Act. 

The earlier DTC draft had proposed to reduce the corporate tax to 25 per cent from the present 30 per cent. The revised proposal has also made it clear that tax incentives on housing loans will continue. Payment on interest on housing loans up to Rs 1.5 lakh will continue. The earlier draft was silent on housing loans.


View Direct Tax Code 2009