Lok Sabha Question No. 2400 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-01
Subject: Tax Literacy
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: Amol Ramsing Kolhe, Supriya Sadanand Sule, Kuldeep Rai Sharma, Subhash Ramrao Bhamre

## Government of India Ministry of Finance Department of Revenue

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2400

TO BE ANSWERED ON MONDAY, AUGUST1, 2022 SRAVANA 10, 1944 (SAKA)

## TAX LITERACY

2400. DR. AMOL RAMSING KOLHE: SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE: SHRI KULDEEP RAI SHARMA: DR. SUBHASH RAMRAO BHAMRE:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether the Government has launched a series of communication and outreach products aimed at spreading financial and tax literacy awareness among masses and if so, the details thereof along with its outcome;
- (b) whether the Government also aims to spread tax literacy among children through games, puzzles and comics and if so, the details thereof along with the aims and objectives behind the move;
- (c)  whether  the  Government  has  taken  steps  to  bring  the  people  earning  above  the  exemption  of income limit under the Income Tax Net;
- (d) if so, the number of such people who have been brought under income Tax Net during each of the last three years; and
- (e)  the other steps taken by the Government to reduce the litigation and tax disputes in direct taxes and to boost income tax collection in the country?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY)

- (a): In order to spread financial and tax literacy among masses the following communication and outreach campaigns and activities are carried out in respect of Direct Taxes-
- (i) Campaigns  are  carried  out  on  TV  and  Radio  in  Hindi  and  10  Regional  languages  to spread  awareness  on  important  schemes  of  Government,  due  dates  for  Advance  Tax installment, return filing, filing of TDS statement, SFT filing, Vivad se Vishwas Act, etc.
- (ii) Important  circulars/information  on  Direct  Taxes  are  regularly  posted  on  social  media handles  of  the  Department  including  LinkedIn,  Twitter,  YouTube,  Instagram  and Facebook for information of the people.
- (iii) The  Department  has  made  a  communication  studio  'Samvaad'  at  New  Delhi  where sessions  with  senior  officers  on  important  taxation  issues  are  recorded  and  thereafter uploaded on YouTube and social media handles as a part of taxpayer outreach.
- (iv) The field formation of the Income tax Department under Pr. CCsIT carry out outreach programmes in their regions for different categories of taxpayers on various matters of direct taxation.

The communication and outreach activities have contributed to growth in Direct Tax collections. In F.Y. 2021-22, the Income tax Department has recorded the highest ever direct tax collections of Rs.14,09,000 crore marking a growth of 49% over the F.Y. 2020-21.

Various outreach initiatives have also been undertaken on indirect tax such as due date reminders  for  the  taxpayers,  Awareness  about  major  recommendations  of  the  GST  Council, major initiative undertaken by CBIC etc. Details of such initiatives are as under:-

|   Sl. No. | Initiatives           |   During F.Y.21-22 |   During F.Y.22-23 (Up to 15.7.22) |
|-----------|-----------------------|--------------------|------------------------------------|
|         1 | Social Media Creative |                550 |                                200 |
|         2 | Short Videos          |                 33 |                                 20 |
|         3 | Webinars              |                108 |                                 15 |
|         4 | Brochures/Booklets    |                 40 |                                  2 |
|         5 | Print Ads             |                  3 |                                  5 |

- (b):   Yes, Sir.  In order to spread tax literacy among children two Board games, one 3D Puzzle game and three Digital Comics have been launched. The details, aims and objectives are given below:
- i.  Snakes, Ladders and Taxes: This Board game introduces   good and bad habits in respect of tax  events  and  financial  transactions  among  the  players  through  the  well-established  game pattern  of  snakes  and  ladders.  The  game  is  simple,  intuitive  and  educational  with  good  habits being rewarded instantaneously and bad habits being penalized instantly.
- ii.    Building  India: This  collaborative  game  introduces  the  concept  of  importance  of  paying taxes through the use of 50 memory cards based on infrastructure and social projects. The game, just like taxation, is collaborative in nature and not competitive wherein every player tries to do their best so that everyone can win together. The better everyone uses their memory, the happier the country remains.
- (iii)      3D  Puzzle: This game consists of 30 pieces, which when connected together create a 3dimensional structure.  Each piece contains important information on various concepts and terms pertaining  to  Direct  taxes.  The  game  uses  a  3-dimensional  model  to  intuitively  teach  about income and taxes. The underlying theme is that a nation's infrastructure is built on a foundation of taxes.
- iv.    Digital  Comic  Books -  The  Income  tax  Department  has  collaborated  with  Motu  Patlu characters of Lot Pot comics to spread awareness about concepts of income and taxation among children  and young  adults.  Three  Digital  comics  in  this  series  have  been  launched  by Department.
- (c): Yes,  Sir.  The  Government  has  taken  many  steps  to  widen  the  income  tax  net  like  higher  Tax Deduction at Source (TDS)/ Tax Collection at Source(TCS) in case of non-filers, expanding the scope of TDS/TCS, broadening the coverage of Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT), implementation of Nonfilers  Monitoring  System,  introduction  of  Annual  Information  Statement  and  allowing  updation  of returns.
- (d): The number of new filers (assessees) added during the last 3 financial years is as under:
- (e):    A  number  of  measures  have  been  taken  by  the  Government.  Some  of  the  legislative measures taken in the recent past are as under:
1. Dispute  Resolution  Committee  (DRC): Section  245  MA  has  been  inserted  in  the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act) vide the Finance Act, 2021 to create a new mechanism for small taxpayers,  which  allows  such  taxpayers  to  resolve  their  disputes  with  minimum  cost  and compliance burden.  A taxpayer having taxable income up to Rs. 50 lakh and disputed income up to  Rs.  10  lakh  shall  be  eligible  to  approach  the  Dispute  Resolution  Committee.  For  ensuring efficiency, transparency and accountability, the e-Dispute Resolution Committee Scheme, 2021 was notified on 5 th April, 2022.
2.  Vivad se Vishwas: In order to reduce pending income tax disputes, the Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas  Act,  2020  ('DTVsV  Act')  was  enacted  on  17th  March,  2020  which  aims  at  all taxpayers, in whose case an appeal was pending as on 31st January, 2020, from the stage of first appeal to the Supreme Court, were eligible to file declaration under the DTVsV Act.
3.    Raising of monetary limit for filing of appeal: The monetary thresholds limit for filing of departmental appeals have been raised from Rs. 20 lakh to Rs. 50 lakh for appeal before ITAT, from Rs.50 lakh to Rs. 1 crore for appeal before High Court and from Rs.1 crore to Rs. 2 crore for appeal before the Supreme Court.
4.          Repetitive  appeal s:  Taking forward the policy of litigation management, a new section 158AB is  inserted  in  the  Act vide Finance  Act,  2022.  If  a  question  of  law  in  the  case  of  an assessee is identical to a question of law pending in appeal before the jurisdictional High Court or the Supreme Court in any case, the filing of further appeal to the Appellate Tribunal or the jurisdictional High Court in the case of the assessee shall be deferred till such question of law is decided by the relevant Court, subject to certain conditions.

|                                        | F.Y. 2019-20   | F.Y. 2020-21   | F.Y. 2021-22   |
|----------------------------------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
| Number of new filers (assessees) added | 75,50,411      | 77,33,146      | 66,35,841      |

Source: Director General of Income Tax (Systems)

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