A three-member committee has already been set by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to formulate modalities for honouring taxpayers under `Samman'.The committee comprising the director general of investigation, Raj Narain and two commissioners of income tax, SP Kapila and N Misra, was in Mumbai last week to obtain suggestions from various professional bodies.

It met associations including Bombay Chartered Accountants' Society (BCAS), Indian Merchants' Chamber (IMC) and All-India Federation of Tax Practitioners. "We have strongly recommended that the dignity of the taxpayer is more important than the cash benefits," said president, BCAS, Kanu S Chokshi. The society, therefore, has askedfor built-in incentives whereby a win-win situation is created. He felt that such a situation would not only attract more taxpayers to Samman but give an incentive to the existing ones to perform better. In both the cases, the objective of the government to increase tax revenue will be achieved, Chokshi added.

The BCAS has primarily divided the incentives in two categories - outside and inside the income tax department. The `outside' incentives include providing railway concessions or a VIP quota in railway reservations, social security, discounts at selected shops, housing and bank loans. "The government can have a small portion of the taxes paid to a separate fund so that social security is provided to taxpayers after retirement," Chokshi said.

The chartered accountants have also sought some in-house facilities. These include quick disposal of cases, exemption from scrutiny, income tax certificates for longer periods, no prior appointments for meeting the officers and an executive launch as waiting-roomin the income tax office.

"Incentives in the form of certificates are not enough, we want to be greeted properly and served a cup of tea at least", he said.

The BCAS has also recommended felicitation of honest taxpayers at public meetings, publication of their names in various forms, inviting them to various functions of the department and an invitation to a cup of tea at least once a year by the chief commissioner of income tax.

The society also gave its suggestions to identify the taxpayers by the best possible method and suggest the facilities which tax authorities can confer on them.

The BCAS has suggested identifying a few people for the scheme and then extend it to other deserving tax payers. It has recommended that the selection criteria be based upon tax payment of at least Rs 50,000 for the last five years or income above Rs 2 lakh.

For individuals, the income could be above Rs 5 lakh in the past five years. However, according to BCAS, assessees who have been raided, levied penalty forconcealment of income and who have not complied with tax deduction at source (TDS) should not be given any incentives.

While salaried employees have been `temporarily' recommended to be excluded from `Samman', the society has sought exclusion of beneficiaries of the voluntary disclosure of income scheme (VDIS) 1997.

It has also suggested that all categories of assessees be covered under Samman including HUF, firms, trusts and corporates. However, in respect of individuals, credit should be given to partners who have income from business (as share of profit) from the firms which are taxed from assessment year 1993-94.