As many as 68,000 cases have been picked up for electronic verification by the income tax department for non-reporting or under-reporting of income on tax returns for the 2019-20 fiscal year, the chief said on Monday. from the CBDT, Nitin Gupta. As part of the electronic verification system, the IT department informs taxpayers of the discrepancy between the annual information declaration (AIS) on financial transactions and the IT declarations filed. The taxpayer can respond to the tax department explaining the mismatch or can file updated returns if they believe the mismatch reported in the electronic verification notice is correct.

“On a pilot basis, approximately 68,000 cases relating to the 2019-2020 financial year were submitted for electronic verification based on the risk management parameters defined by the department. Of this number, in 56% of the cases or 35 000 cases, the taxpayer has already satisfactorily responded to the notice or filed an updated tax return,” Gupta said.

He said a total of 15 lakh updated returns have been filed so far and taxes worth Rs 1,250 crore have been collected.

However, no response was received in the remaining 33,000 cases.

Taxpayers have time until March 31, 2023 to file updated returns for income earned in the 2019-20 fiscal year.

Once an assessee files an updated ITR, there is less chance that their case will be taken up for review or reassessment,” Gupta said in a media interaction here.

Risk parameters for selecting returns for electronic verification would be set annually, Gupta said, without disclosing the criteria for selecting an ITR for electronic verification. “The 68,000 cases selected for electronic verification were based on a mismatch between the filed tax return and the data received from the source regarding the filings. The selection is computer-driven. If you do not respond to notices of electronic verification, chances are high that the case would be selected for review,” Gupta said.

Urging taxpayers to regularly check its AIS, Gupta said taxpayers should provide feedback to the department if they see any mismatch.

“The electronic verification system is a non-intrusive way to encourage taxpayers to file updated returns in the event of a mismatch. It is transparent, without any human interface, encourages voluntary compliance and would help reduce litigation” , said the head of the Central Commission of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

Once the department notifies a taxpayer electronically of their retrieved file for electronic verification, the taxpayer has 15 days to respond to the notice from the IT department. The CBDT has 90 days to process a particular case under electronic verification, but complicated cases may take longer.

The electronic verification program was notified on December 13, 2021 and the pilot project was launched in September 2022. The deadline for filing updated declarations for the 2019-20 financial year ends on March 31, 2023.