Srinagar, September 10: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT-Income Tax Department) has been urged to reconsider its plan to move the Income Tax Office from Anantnag to Udhampur by the Anantnag Trade Association and Business Community.
According to a statement from the All Traders and Manufacturers Association Anantnag, “Anantnag is the second largest business hub of Kashmir Valley after Srinagar and in the year 2009, an Income Tax Office was opened and inaugurated by the then Chairman, CBDT to provide effective taxpayer services to the assesses of South Kashmir covering four districts of Kashmir Valley namely Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian, and Kulgam.”
“However, the office has lately been moved from Anantnag (Kashmir division) to Udhampur (Jammu division), a station more than 250 kilometres distant and accessible by only one road connection that runs through steep terrains and regularly remains closed for days. The taxpayers of south Kashmir can readily visit Anantnag, and the current office site is quite inconvenient for all parties involved.
“Travel time and costs for taxpayers, including our members, are often needless because of the existing office’s location in Udhampur. Due of the great distance and the poor state of the uphill route, people are risk-averse, which results in mediocre compliance. For the assessees in the South Kashmir region, methods for correcting challans, filing appeals, resolving PAN duplicates, and other taxpayer services have become complicated and time-consuming, delaying compliance.
We sincerely ask the Chairman of CBDT to take into account our proposal for the relocation of the Income Tax Office to Anantnag in order to hasten the settlement of the pressing problems, notably those involving the rectification of PANs, challans, the impact of appeals, and physical compliances. The statement continued, “Our organisation is prepared and eager to give any required assistance or information to expedite this transfer process.
