Arun Jaitley asks I-T department to unearth black money

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has told top officials of the Income Tax Department to make "serious efforts" to unearth the large amount of black money circulating in the country.

"The government is making full efforts to bring back the black money stashed abroad, but the officers of the (Income Tax) Department have to make equally serious efforts to unearth black money within the country," Jaitley said on Monday at the annual conference of chief commissioners and directors general (DGs) in the national capital.

The minister asked all senior officers to focus their efforts to unearth black money within the country, "which is also quite large". He said that officers are duty-bound to work in a non-adversarial, non-intrusive, transparent and fair manner, yet they have to deal firmly with those trying to evade taxes.

" he job of the officers of the I-T Department is very difficult in the sense that on the one hand, they have to achieve the tax collection targets and on the other hand, to play the role of tax facilitator for the assessee."

Jaitley also hoped that revenue targets fixed for direct taxes, comprising income and corporate and wealth taxes, would not only be achieved but surpassed in the current fiscal.

"The direct tax collection for the current fiscal has been pegged at Rs 7,36,221 crore. In order to achieve this target, the officers of Income Tax Department will have to work with the highest standard of ethics ... credibility of the department is its biggest asset."

Revenue secretary Shaktikanta Das said that I-T officials should achieve targets by using fair and transparent means. The focus and efforts of the officers of the department should be to reduce tax arrears, which are to the tune of Rs 4 lakh crore and ensure a higher tax recovery, he added.

Central Board of Direct Taxes chairman RK Tiwari said that the department will make utmost efforts to achieve the tax collection target.