Ensure convenience for honest taxpayers; act firmly against evaders: FM to I-T Dept

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday asked Income Tax officials to ensure convenience for honest taxpayers and take firm action against evasion.

“Tax certainty is an economic imperative,” she said at an event here to mark the 167th Income Tax Day celebrations. Emphasising the need to be empathetic, Sitharaman said the department should know how to draw a line between those deliberately evading tax and those committing bona fide errors.

She also listed out five priorities for the department — recognise, respond, redress, reflect, and reform. “Exercise the power that the tax law gives you with humility…be agile,” she said.