Dear Friends,

The Month of July has initiated the onset of Monsoon and has started with the issuance of various Changes in Rate of Tax under GST which are looking very small in reflections but will have a great impact on the consumers and they have to bear the brunt of hike in GST rates. We as a fraternity do understand that Government runs on revenue but imposition of GST on Hospital Rooms of tariff more than Rs. 5,000/- shows the attitude of Government which wants a tax from citizens on affordability count even when they are emotionally stressed while they have taxed the cheap hotel Rooms which are not giving any Luxurious facilities and are not used by well to do section of the Society from the point of view of Government. Rationale behind the two transactions is different but it has to be taxed anyhow. This seems to be Motto of Government which is against the philosophy of a Welfare state and not leaving any transaction from Taxation is something needs a rethinking by the Government themselves.

Besides this issue, technology is governing our life so much that it is virtually becoming impossible to live without adopting technology and becoming familiar with the latest gazettes. It is also changing very fast and has brought revolution in the medical and legal fields; the latest is available at our finger tips.

The tax departments are aggressively heading for newer technology; we are now seeing e-assessment-appeals, e-tribunal hearings and probably in near future e-apex court benches to facilitate the far flung places to get justice at affordable cost.

We expect that concerned departments shall take proper care to have efficient software, trained personals to handle the work and glitches free portal. It is seen that in case of e-assessment the memory space provided for uploading the documents is very little and it is going to cause problem for assessee and professionals to effectively put-up their case supported by proper evidence. Our apprehension about faceless assessment are coming true when unwanted additions and frivolous litigations are cropping up but the Courts are coming to Rescue of stake holders holding that opportunity of personal hearing is must before passing best judgement as recently held in case of Bank of India v/s A. C. INCOME Tax by ITAT, Mumbai on 30th June, 2022 have held that “when an opportunity of presenting the case, through the video conferencing in the faceless appeal proceedings, is now available to every tax payer, on demand, the same must also be held to be admissible in the proceedings, if so demanded by the assessee, in the old rules as well” and purpose shall be fulfilled of faceless appeals as envisaged the government.

This month’s Journal will be a Tax Companion having a digest of case laws for the quarter April to June 2022, Here it is important for us to organize workshops at zonal level to train our members for making effective compliances; this will help in adaptation of technology and facilitate smooth working. Northern Zone has organized one webinar on 9th July, 2022, after the GST Council Meeting. The leader in webinars, Central Zone has designed a 6 Days Refresher Certificate Course under Income-tax Act which has been completed on 16th July, 2022 successfully.

Friends, the pace of membership growth appears to be at Lower speed to achieve our target of 1,000 new members by the end of December, 2022 but I am sure that, we would all work together to see that the target is achieved and number reaches and at times exceeds. We, therefore exhort upon all the learned members of the NEC as well as the Managing Committee members from every zone to devote some kind of time for this aspect and help the organization to reach the goal. We once again appeal to one and all to strengthen the hands of the Federation with many more new members and to increase the growth of the journal which is the mouth piece of the Federation on legal education.

The NTC coupled with NEC at Delhi is going to take place on 6th & 7th August, 2022 and another NTC with NEC is being planned at Dwarka are also under planning. Keep watching our website or announcements in AIFTP WhatsApp groups. If you are not part of any group, please write to us, we would add you in AIFTP Family groups.

The details of National Tax Conference at DELHI have already been circulated and I expect that all should register for the said conferences and make the same a grand success.

Yours sincerely

D. K. Gandhi

National President, A.I.F.T.P.