Shyamprasad Choudhury, Prinicipal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax,Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, at the Ayakar Seva Kendra in Visakhapatnam on Friday. | Photo Credit: C.V.Subrahmanyam more-in The IT collections in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have been buoyant during 2017-18 and the target for the current financial year has been set at ?60,845 crore as against the collections of ?49,772 crore during last year, Principal Chief Commissioner of IT (A.P. & Telangana) Shyama Prasad Choudhury, has said. He inaugurated an Ayakar Seva Kendra (ASK) and a Ministerial Staff Training Unit (MSTU) in the IT Office on Sankara Matham Road here on Friday. This is the second MSTU in AP and TS and the only one in Andhra Pradesh. Later addressing the gathering, he said that filing of IT returns was being done mostly online in the two States and ASK s were being set up to address the grievances and complaints of the taxpayers and also to file returns. There was already an ASK at the IT Office at MVP Colony. Five crucial aspects The MSTU would impart training to staff up to the level of Office Superintendents. He said the IT department was focussing on five crucial aspects — revenue, accountability, probity, information and digitisation. In response to a query, he said that there was a definite positive impact on tax collections in the wake of demonetisation but it would take sometime to calculate the exact figure. There were 8.35 lakh new taxpayers in the A.P. and TS during 2017-18. He said the IT Department was not directly involved in the exercise of demonetisation, as the banks were. “Even without demonetisation, there is a steady annual growth in IT collections, but demonetisation has definitely helped during 2017-18,” he clarified. Mr. Choudhury said the IT department in India was very efficient, and the tax collection cost was much lower in the country than in most of the European and Asian countries. Mr. Chitta Ranjan Pati, the Chief Commissioner of IT, Visakhapatnam, Principal Commissioner of IT-1, Visakhapatnam, B.G. Reddy and other senior officials participated in the programme.

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