A parliamentary panel has made a disturbing revelation in its report that nearly every third sanctioned post in the two tax bodies—Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Custom (CBIC) is lying vacant. The report, tabled in the House on Friday, also highlighted the fact that nearly 85 per cent in case of indirect taxes and nearly 65 per cent in case of direct taxes of total arrears are difficult to collect.
The report bears significance as the India’s GDP is reported to be sliding down continuously.
According to the Standing Committee Report on Finance, CBDT has the sanctioned strength of over 78000, but its working strength was little over 50, 000 as on September 1 this year. This means 36 per cent posts are vacant. At the same time, CBIC reported that of the total sanctioned strength (excluding Special Economic Zones) of over 84000, strength is little over 52000, which means over 38 per cent posts are vacant.
The Committee found that due to this existing scenario of huge vacancy tax arrears are accumulating rapidly. In regard to CBDT, the cumulative tax arrears, which were over ₹10 lakh crore in 2019-20, stood at over ₹42 lakh crore as on October 7 in the current fiscal. In the case of CBIC, the arrear amount has risen to over ₹4.26 lakh crore in 2023-24 form over 3.02 lakh crore in 2021-22.
