I-T dept unveils 5-year vision statement; reforms galore

Unveiling its five-year vision statement, the income-tax department said it would constitute an expert group by March 2011, which would suggest ways to plug tax leakages. This group would include experts and economists, the department stated.

Further the department also announced that it would set up a revenue services research institute so that all tax data can be under single custodian. With this system in place the I-T department aims to updates and clean PAN database on regular basis and would even consider modifying ITR forms to capture information. The department would proactively address the misuse of the tax exempt status by creating a database of such entities. It would also develop a system to track fund flows and finalise advance pricing agreement norms for transfer pricing. "We are also looking at creating a directorate of risk management in order to extend risk management to a group of taxpayers," the department stated.