National E-Assessment Centre (NEC):

National E-Assessment Centre (NEC) located at Delhi would be the nodal point for all the communication between the tax department and the taxpayer, and would facilitate the conduct of tax assessments in a centralized manner. An automated system would form the basis for selection of cases for tax assessment and allocation of such cases to assessment units through the regional e-assessment centre. The NEC would be responsible for issuing notices/other communication to the taxpayer’s registered email address and receiving response from taxpayers. NEC would also coordinate between the different units in the tax department for gathering information; seek technical inputs on tax positions, verification and review of the information submitted by taxpayers, review of draft orders framed by the assessment units, etc. Based on the outcome of the assessment, a taxpayer would be provided an opportunity of submitting a response against the draft assessment order. Finally, NEC will also take steps to issue the final assessment order, along with the demand notice if applicable, and issue the notice for initiating any penalty proceedings.

Regional E-Assessment Centre (REC):

As of now, eight regional centres have been set up at New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad which would work under the NEC to facilitate the conduct of e-assessment proceedings. The regional centres would be under the direct regional jurisdiction of a chief commissioner of income tax and shall be backed by the specialized units i.e., assessment unit, verification unit, technical unit and review unit.

Assessment Units:

The assessment units will facilitate the conduct of e-assessment and would function under the instructions of the NEC and regional centre. The tax officers in the assessment units will review the tax returns, identify issues to determine any liability (including refund) under the Act, seek information or clarification from taxpayers on identified issues, analyze the information furnished by the taxpayer, etc. Based on the assessment of information received from the taxpayers, the unit would frame the draft assessment order and share the same with the NEC for its review and communication with the taxpayer. If required, the assessment units may modify or revise the draft assessment order under direction from the NEC.

Verification Units:

Verification units will facilitate the conduct of e-assessment by the assessment unit. Their function will include enquiry, cross verification, examination of books of accounts, examination of witnesses and recording of statements and such other functions as may be required for the purposes of verification.

Technical Units:

Technical units will support the assessment units with assistance on various tax positions. This would include any assistance or advice on legal, accounting, forensic, information technology, valuation, transfer pricing, data analytics, management or any other technical matter which may be required under this scheme.

Review Units:

The review units would assist the NEC in carrying out any review of the draft assessment order submitted by the assessment units. Apart from checking for arithmetical correctness of modifications proposed in the draft order, the review unit would also check whether the relevant material evidence has been brought on record, the relevant points of fact and law have been duly incorporated in the draft order, and the issues on which addition or disallowance should be made have been discussed in the draft order. The review unit will also check whether applicable judicial decisions have been considered and dealt with in the draft order.