Paid all your taxes? Govt may still decline a ‘certificate of appreciation’

Paid all your taxes? You may not qualify for a certificate of appreciation from the Income Tax (IT) department if you happen to file your tax return after the due date or have got a notice with a query for any previous year despite being an honest tax payer.

The department awards a certificate to all those, who pay income tax above Rs 1 lakh.

While the department has given out lakhs of such certificates, many who have paid taxes diligently have not been appreciated leading to apprehension and anxiety among honest citizens.

The irony is a query from taxmen can be of any nature including for a completely legitimate yet a large payment through credit card.

“The department will honour only those, who have not only diligently paid taxes but also paid them on time and filed returns on time too.... otherwise the tax payer is not eligible to get a certificate,” a senior Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) told Hindustan Times.

There are three categories of certificates sent to all eligible tax payers online.

All those paying an annual tax of Rs 1-10 lakh are given a bronze certificate, while those pay between Rs 10-50 lakh get a silver note and those paying taxes between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore falls under the gold category. Those paying Rs 1 crore and above are categorised as platinum tax payers.

K Raghu, a former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), said that those filing tax returns this year must ensure that all information provided are “correct.”

The department, which has issued a simple one page form this year for all tax payers with an annual income up to Rs 50 lakh, will also screen tax returns of those depositing large amounts of cash during the demonetization period.

Only six crore out of 29 crore holding permanent account number (PAN) file income tax returns at present.

From July onwards, those filing income tax returns would also have to link their PAN with Aadhaar number.