The income-tax department has brought in changes to the existing faceless appeal scheme easing the process for taxpayers wanting a personal hearing through video conference while appealing against a tax demand by the department.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on December 28, notified the “Faceless Appeal Scheme, 2021” and said that the Commissioner (Appeals) shall allow the request for personal hearing via video conference and communicate the date and time of hearing to the appellant through the National Faceless Appeal Centre.

“The board shall establish suitable facilities for video conferencing or video telephony including telecommunication application software which supports video conferencing or video telephony at such locations as may be necessary,” the CBDT notification said.

This will “ensure that the appellant, or his authorised representative, or any other person is not denied the benefit of this Scheme merely on the ground that such appellant or his authorised representative, or any other person does not have access to video conferencing or video telephony at his end”.

However, a person would not be permitted to appear before the income-tax authority either personally or through an authorised representative in connection with any proceedings under this scheme.

The scheme ran into legal tangles as many taxpayers approached courts challenging denial of personal hearing facility, following which the the faceless appeal scheme, 2021 was notified on December 28.

E-verification

Taxpayers who have not e-verified their ITRs for 2019-20 fiscal can complete the verification process by February 28, 2022, as the income tax department has given a one-time relaxation to assessees.

Under the law, an income tax return (ITR), filed electronically without a digital signature, has to be verified electronically through Aadhaar OTP, or net-banking, or code sent through demat account, pre-validated bank account and ATM within 120 days of filing the return. Alternatively, taxpayers can send a physical copy of the ITR filed to the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) office in Bangalore.

If the verification process, which is done through ITR-V form, is not complete, it is considered that the return has not been filed.