The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notices to the finance ministry and the Director General of Income Tax (Department of Revenue) on a petition challenging a scheme to train educated youth as Tax Return Preparers (TRPs).
The TRP scheme envisages training jobless, but educated youth in the trade of preparing and filing IT returns on behalf of tax paying individuals. A Bench comprising Justice M K Sharma and Justice Hema Kohli, which was hearing a PIL, gave two weeks time to the ministry to file its reply.
The petitioner contended that the scheme introduced by the ministry encroached on the jurisdiction of Chartered Accountants, while claiming that they alone were eligible to prepare tax returns.
The petitioner also sought directions to the Finance Ministry to prohibit filing of income tax returns by these TRPs.
As per the scheme TRPs, who get only nine days of training on preparation and filing of IT returns, would get three per cent commission on the tax collected for the new assesses as remuneration.
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