FM Arun Jaitley unveils 'SMS Alert Service' for TDS deductions

As many as 2.5 crore salaried tax payers will now receive SMS alerts from the Income Tax department regarding their quarterly TDS deductions.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley recently launched the SMS alert service for Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) for salaried class and the CBDT will soon offer this facility on a monthly basis.

Briefing reporters about the facility, Jaitley said salaried class cannot afford to pay tax twice or indulge in litigations and hence they should be kept updated about their TDS deductions.

"Hence tax payers will benefit if they receive information through use of technology. So they can match the office salary slip and the SMS and at the end of the fiscal he will be clear about any possible tax dues," Jaitley said.
He asked the CBDT to work towards making the grievance redressal system for TDS mismatch online so that there is no interface between the tax payer and the tax department.

Jaitley said e-Nivaran is working well for tax payers and the CBDT is taking several tax payer friendly initiative.

The CBDT will soon extend this SMS facility to another 4.4 crore non-salaried tax payers.

"The frequency of SMS alerts will be increased, once the process for filing TDS returns is streamlined to receive such information on a real time basis," the CBDT said.

CBDT Chairperson Rani Singh Nair said the tax department is encouraging people to register their mobile number on the e-filing website.

She said tax payer will initially receive a welcome message from the CBDT informing him about the facility and after that each assessee would be sent messages informing them about their respective TDS deductions.

The new step is an effort by the I-T department to directly communicate deposit of tax deducted through SMS alerts to salaried tax payers. In case of a mismatch, they can contact their deductor for necessary correction.

Besides, SMS alerts will also be sent to deductors who have either failed to deposit taxes deducted to e-file their TDS returns by the due date.