New Delhi : Finance Minister on Friday met key industry representatives for their inputs on modifying the norms and the forms for filing returns but gave no assurances on when the exercise will be completed.
During his visit to the US last week, the tax administration had notified some new forms on filing returns that required details of all bank accounts and foreign travel, among other issues, which had raised a storm.
While in the US, Jaitley spoke to his officials and asked them to review the forms. He has also upon his return decided to meet industry representatives for their views before a final decision.
The meeting on Friday comprised some 20 representatives from the Federation of Indian Chambers of commerce and Industry (FICCI), the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Association Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Assocham).
“The government was very open minded. Our submission was that if an individual is filing tax return truthfully and honestly and is completely disclosing everything, then that person should not be burdened or get negatively impacted,” said Siddharth Birla, immediate past president of FICCI.
“The Income Tax return form should avoid multiplicity of information. In 2014-15, we had a good precedence of tax return form. I think a little tweaking of that form can help us,” he told IANS.
According to other members at the meeting, including the representatives from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, there was an indication from officials that the government will come out with a new ITR form within the next three-four weeks.