Though the Indian government has introduced a faceless tax assessment system to stop direct contact between taxpayers and tax officials, corruption has found its way into the process. Fraudsters, including tax officials and chartered accountants, have misused the system to demand bribes from taxpayers.

On February 6, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided multiple locations in Delhi, Mumbai, and Kerala. They arrested key people, including Delhi’s Deputy Commissioner Vijayender R, Mumbai-based tax inspectors Dinesh Verma and Binayak Sharma, and chartered accountants Girish Anand and Sushil Kumar from Delhi. Other arrests included Mumbai-based Shivratna Sigrodia and Bhavesh Rakholia, and Pratik Lenin from Kerala’s Kottayam, along with Dinesh Kumar Agarwal from Delhi.

The faceless system, introduced in 2019, was meant to stop any personal interaction between tax officials and taxpayers. It ensured that a taxpayer’s return was assessed by officials from a different city. 

CBI found that taxpayer information was misused, especially in appeals and high-value assessment cases, leading to corruption. Authorities are now working on stricter measures to prevent such practices and ensure a fair tax assessment process.