I-T Dept to open nine help centres

By the end of this fiscal, income tax payers will be able to get all their problems relating to filing of returns and obtaining of refunds, among others, addressed at nine more help centres.

The Income Tax Department has decided to set up help centres at 12 cities, including Kolkata, Coimbatore and Surat, to address the problems of tax payers.

At present, help centres exist at three places in the country. The centres, called Aayakar Sewa Kendras, are currently located in Pune, Chandigarh and Kochi. "We are planning to extend Aayakar Sewa Kendras to 12 cities, including Ludhiana, Kolkata and Indore, in the current fiscal," a finance ministry official said.

The centres would also be set up at Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Surat, Ahmedabad, Udaipur and Coimbatore.

A one-stop shop for taxpayers to obtain the services of the Income Tax department, the kendras help redress the complaints of taxpayers and prevent similar grievances in the future.

The centre addresses almost all I-T related queries, including returns and refunds, the official said. At present, over 3.5 crore people come under the income tax net in the country.