CBDT: Good news for tax payers! Now the Income Tax Department will not ask useless questions..

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), an organization of the Income Tax Department, has taken a big step towards improving the faceless assessment system. CBDT Chairman Ravi Agarwal has issued strict instructions to the Faceless Assessment Officers (FAOs). He said that they should not ask unnecessary and irrelevant questions in tax matters and should only make inquiries related to the case and specifically necessary.

These instructions have been issued through a letter sent to the Principal Chief Commissioners of Income Tax across the country. It states that the entire process will be brought to better standards to make the faceless assessment process more efficient, objective and taxpayer-friendly.

Notice and new guidelines

New guidelines have been issued for mandatory scrutiny of Income Tax Returns (ITR) for the financial year 2025-26, under which cases are being selected through Computer Assisted Scrutiny Selection (CASS). In these cases, preliminary notices are being sent under section 143(2) and after that, as per the need, inquiries or additional documents will be sought under section 142(1).

Why is this decision important?

1. To reduce unnecessary pressure and confusion on taxpayers

2. To make faceless tax assessments purposeful and effective

3. To strengthen trust between the department and taxpayers

4. To reduce the number of frivolous inquiries and notices

What did the CBDT chairman say?

Ravi Agarwal stressed that "All questions raised during faceless assessment should be relevant, accurate, and based on the circumstances of the case. Unnecessary and absurd questions should be avoided." He further said that unrelated inquiries are not only a waste of time but also put an unnecessary burden on the taxpayers, which harms the image of the department.

Responsibility for unit heads
CBDT has also clarified that the unit heads of faceless assessment, Additional and Joint Commissioner level officers will now be directly accountable for what and how their subordinate officers are inquiring. They will have to see whether the questions asked are as per the criteria of CASS selection or not.

The review will be done every month.
To strengthen this system, every month the Principal Chief Commissioners will have to interact and review meetings with the faceless units. Along with this, they will also prepare a report on the quality of notices issued throughout the month. This monitoring and review system will not only increase transparency but will also ensure accountability and continuous improvement in the tax assessment process.

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