Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said that revival of the practice of acknowledging tax payers for promptly filing income tax returns will play an important role in nation building.Jaitley was speaking at an event held here to hand over certificates of appreciation issued by the Central Board of Taxes (CBDT) honouring select tax payers.According to the minister, the practice will help in bringing about the necessary change in people's attitude to pay due taxes on time. The Finance Minister said that payment of due taxes is an accepted practice in most parts of the world.
According to a Ministry of Finance statement, the practice of acknowledgement marks the first effort by the government to directly communicate to tax payers its appreciation for their contributions.
"CBDT will be sending out such certificates of appreciation to individual tax payers by e-mail in various categories on the basis of the level of taxes paid by them for the current Assessment Year 2016-17," the statement said."About 8.43 lakh tax payers will be issued this Letter of Appreciation in different categories for paying the due taxes."The certificates have been categorised in four segments: "Platinum" for tax contribution of Rs 1 crore and above, "Gold" for tax payment from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore, "Silver" for tax contributed between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 50 lakh, and "Bronze" for tax of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.