As you all know, Income Tax Return Filing season is upon us and it is great to see that Indian Income Tax department is taking steps to ensure that the whole process is as easy as possible for Tax payers.
According to NDTV news, IT department, for the first time, will be setting up “Tax Kiosks” or “Aayakar Seva Kendra” in various localities and residential areas that will offer various tax related services and information. This will help tax payers avoid traveling to Income Tax offices which are sometimes far away from Tax payers residence.
This kiosks will offer various services which include filing of Tax returns, tracking refunds or even applying for PAN cards.
While in larger cities Tax Kiosks will be setup, IT department also plans to have mobile vans in smaller cities and towns.
The Kiosks and mobiles vans will have trained Income Tax personnel who will help tax payers to prepare their tax returns as well as help them with anything related to tax filing.
IT department had run a pilot project last year of similar nature which was quite a success and hence it will be getting implemented through-out the country this year.
Our View: This is a great initiative by Income Tax Department and it may help tax payers for whom tax filing is straight forward. However, in most cases Tax payers have their CA or accountant who takes care of filing returns and other file their returns online. I presume that in most cases, users of these kiosks will not be the end-users, but people who file tax returns for others.
If you happen to use one of these kiosks or mobile vans, do let us know what you feel.