From non-refund of taxes to
the rude behaviour of officials, the income tax tax ombudsman handles a wide
range of complaints
Your income tax refund for a
particular year has been due for a long time now. Perhaps you also applied for
a PAN card for your daughter, but it still has not come through. You have
approached the officers concerned several times, but all in vain.
Income Tax Ombudsman..!
Do not fret! There is
another route open for aggrieved income taxpayers like you to have their issues
addressed.
Office in Chennai..!
The offices of the ombudsman
are located in select cities. These are Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata,
Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kochi, Bhopal, Ahmedabad and Lucknow.
A list of the appropriate
ombudsman for residents of each state and union territory, along with the
coordinates of the officers to be approached, is available on the I-T
department's website, www.incometaxindia.gov.in
Nature of complaints..!
Besides commonplace issues
such as an undue delay in refunds or non-allotment of PAN, the jurisdiction of
the ombudsman extends to several other complaints.
You can approach this
authority in events such as non-acknowledgment of letters or / documents sent
to the department, delay in giving effect to appellate orders, non-credit of
income tax already paid (including TDS), non-communication of reasons in case
your return is selected for scrutiny or even non-adherence to prescribed
working hours by tax officials or unwarranted rude behaviour on their part.
‘The Income Tax OmbudsmanGuidelines 2010’,
also available online, outline the grounds on which a complaint can be made.
Before proceeding, in order
to ensure that your complaint will be entertained, you can solicit the help of
your auditor or officials in your company’s legal department to check if your
complaint will be accepted.
Procedure for complaints..!
Before you approach the
ombudsman, do remember that you must first try to resolve all complaints with
the relevant authorities within the income tax department.
You can move to the
ombudsman only after they either reject the complaint, or / do not give a
satisfactory response or, at the worst, don’t reply at all, even one month
after you have made your grievance known to them.
In such a situation, make
sure that you approach the ombudsman within one year from the time of rejection
or non-satisfactory response, or in case there is no reply altogether, within
13 months from the time of making the complaint.
Complaints need to be made
in writing or through email.
The letter should include
the name & address of the complainant, the name of the office and the
official of the department against whom the complaint is made. You also have to
provide the facts giving rise to the complaint along with supporting documents
and the relief sought from the ombudsman.
You can also use your
authorised representative to make a complaint on your behalf.
The Settlement..!
Once the Income tax
ombudsman receives a complaint, he will forward it to the relevant income-tax
authority and will try to resolve the dispute through mediation or / conciliation.
If a complaint is not
settled in this manner within a period of one month from the date of its
receipt, the ombudsman will make a decision on the case after hearing out both
the parties.
The decision may include a
direction to the concerned income tax authority to perform his duty and a token
compensation amount to the complainant for the loss suffered. So, do not
despair when you have troubles with the income tax department.
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