Faceless Scheme – Income Tax Department

Section 130 of the Income Tax Act: Faceless jurisdiction of income-tax authorities

(1) The Central Government may make a scheme, by notification in the Official Gazette, for the purposes of—

(a) exercise of all or any of the powers and performance of all or any of the functions conferred on, or, as the case may be, assigned to income-tax authorities by or under this Act as referred to in section 120; or

(b) vesting the jurisdiction with the Assessing Officer as referred to in section 124; or

(c) exercise of power to transfer cases under section 127; or

(d) exercise of jurisdiction in case of change of incumbency as referred to in section 129,

so as to impart greater efficiency, transparency and accountability by—

(i) eliminating the interface between the income-tax authority and the assessee or any other person, to the extent technologically feasible;

(ii) optimising utilisation of the resources through economies of scale and functional specialisation;

(iii) introducing a team-based exercise of powers and performance of functions by two or more income-tax authorities, concurrently, in respect of any area or persons or classes of persons or incomes or classes of income or cases or classes of cases, with dynamic jurisdiction.

(2) The Central Government may, for the purpose of giving effect to the scheme made under sub-section (1), by notification in the Official Gazette, direct that any of the provisions of this Act shall not apply or shall apply with such exceptions, modifications and adaptations as may be specified in the notification:

Provided that no direction shall be issued after the 31st day of March, 2022.

(3) Every notification issued under sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) shall, as soon as may be after the notification is issued, be laid before each House of Parliament.]