Setting up of Aayakar Sewa Kendras during the Financial Year 2015-16- Regarding providing taxpayer services - Income Tax - D.O. No. 48/3/2015/ASK/P-VI/DOMS /I844

DIRECTOR GENERAL OF INCOME TAX (LOGISTICS) Central Board of Direct Taxes Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance Government of India A.R.A. Centre, Ground Floor, E-2, Jhandewalan Extension, New Delhi-110055 Tel.: 011-23537002 Fax : 011-23593267 E-mail : [email protected] D.O. No. 48/3/2015/ASK/P-VI/DOMS /I844 Dated: 31-03-2015 To All Pr. CCIT(CCA) Dear Subject : Providing taxpayer services i.e. setting up of Aayakar Sewa Kendras during the Financial Year 2015-16- regarding. Your reference is invited to the fact that the Directorate of Income Tax (O MS) is the nodal agency for setting up of Aayakar Sewa Kendras (ASKs) all over the country. Last year, we had a target of setting up 60 ASKs. It was felt by us that before identifying a particular location for setting up of a new ASK, the concerned CCIT should be consulted to avoid any communication gap at a later stage. 2. The locations for setting up all the ASKs in the last year were identified and recommended by the concerned CCIT (CCA) / CCIT, as a result of which the process of setting up of the ASKs could be carried out smoothly. On the same lines as last year, you are requested to kindly use your good offices to participate in the exercise to identify locations for setting up Aayakar Sewa Kendra in this year also. 3. A number of yardsticks have been identified by the CBDT for setting up a new Aayakar Sewa Kendra. A copy of these yardsticks is enclosed as Annexure-A. Another important factor which needs to be taken into account while setting up an Aayakar Sewa Kendra is that the building should preferably be owned by the Government. In case no such buildings are available, a building which has been taken on rent by the Income Tax Department and which is not likely to be vacated soon, may also be considered. 4. You are kindly requested to kindly coordinate amongst the CCsIT in your region and recommend 5 buildings in your region for setting up of the new Aayakar Sewa Kendra during the Financial Year 2015-16. Priority may kindly be given to buildings where CIT is the senior most officer and it may kindly be seen that no such building is left out unless there is any compelling reason. 5. The primary requirements for setting up an ASK is the Sevottam node and the appropriate budget. The number of nodes required to setup an ASK is based on the workload in that location. The procedure to determine the same is explained in the annexure appended to this letter. Therefore, once the buildings are identified at your end, you are requested to kindly determine the requirement of nodes for each of the buildings identified. It may however be kindly noted that for single ITO stations, only 1 node shall be applicable. 6. Once you have identified the requirement of nodes, you are also requested to submit your required budget for each of the ASKs recommended by you. As far as the budget is concerned, depending upon the number of nodes and going by the pattern of expenditure in the previous years, the budget for setting up an ASK is also mentioned in the annexure. It is seen that ASKs have already been setup in most of the big locations and the ASKs being setup now are mostly with 3 nodes. The budget estimates enclosed are therefore based on ASKs with a maximum of 5 nodes since it is unlikely to be exceeded. 7. Kindly appreciate that setting up of ASK is a time bound exercise and funds are to be disbursed at the earliest for its timely completion. I shall be grateful if you kindly send your list of 5 Aayakar Sewa Kendras proposed to be set up during the Financial Year 2015 -16 latest by 15-04-2015 alongwith the requirement of nodes and budget in respect of each recommended building. With Yours (K. C Jain) Encl: As above Annexure-A YARDSTICKS BUDGET FOR SELECTION OF ASK LOCATIONS 1. Ask Locations should preferably be in Govt. Owned buildings. However, in charges, where no govt. owned building is available for setting up of ASK, rented building which is for a longer period of time may be identified. 2. ASK should preferably be set-up on Ground Floor and in the front side of the office building. However, this yardstick is flexible depending on the requirement. 3. The requirement of space for ASK is determined on the basis of requirement of nodes for ASK based on workload of receipt of DAK and receipt of paper returns in that building. Broad basis for working out requirement of nodes/space is enclosed. 4. In single ITO stations, there is no need to set-up ASK Prototype. However, ASK may be made functional at these locations with a single node for monitoring of services given in the Citizen s Charter. 5. For technical feasibility, the location for ASK should preferably be within 100 meters distance from the server/communication room 6. A Local Implementation Committee (with concerned CIT/Addl.CIT as Nodal Officer) may be set-up to identify space, to initiate all work relating to setting up of ASK and also monitoring the functioning of ASK. 7. The budget for setting up ASK with upto 5 nodes is also enclosed. Basis of determining number of nodes/Requirement of space/Budget at ASK Centres 1. The requirement of number of nodes at ASK centers is equal to the number of Front Desks plus the number of Back Desks. In addition one node is also required for the person manning Enquiry counter. Hence, it is important to work out the requirement of Front Desks and Back Desks at ASK Centres which would ultimately be the requirement of nodes. The basis of working out requirements for Front Desk and Back Desk are given below:- Requirement of Front Desk for Receipt of Dak/ Return of Income a) There are approximately 200 working days in a year. b) One person manning Front Desk can receive 200 Dak OR Returns of income in a day which works out to 40,000/- Dak OR return per Front Desk per year. c) The work for Front Desk is not scattered evenly. Sometimes during the day there is a great rush and some times there are only few persons availing services at ASK. In view of this, for initial block of 20,000/- returns or dak, one Front Desk is absolutely necessary. For next three block of 30,000, 40,000 and 50,000 one Front Desk for each of the block is required. These three blocks average full utilization of time for Front Desks. Requirement of Back Desks for Receipt of Returns: As for requirement of Back Desk is concerned, the basis for working out this requirement is different for Returns of Income and Dak As per Process Document, for receipt of returns, back desk has not much work except to generate RDR to distribute Returns of Income to the respective assessing officers. Hence for functional necessity only one Back Desk is sufficient irrespective of the workload of receipt of returns at ASK Centre. Requirement of Back Desks for Receipt of Dak: As per Process Document, Back Desk has to make some entries for the dak which is passed on to him by the Front Desk before the same is distributed to the respective AOs/Sections. As and when the workload of receipt of dak with Front dak increase, it has a bearing on Back Desk. Hence for initial block of upto 50,000 Dak, requirement of one Back Desk is a functional necessity. For next two block of 40,000 and 50,000, one Back Desk for each of the block is required. After that for every block of 30,000, 40,000 and 50,000, one additional Back Desk is required. It is pertinent to mention here that the Back Desk is also responsible to handle dak received through post/courier/drop box for which he has to carry out both the functions i.e. functions of FD as well as functions of BD, as this dak is not routed through the Front Desk, required to make all entries in the system. 2. The workload for ASK for Receipt of Returns of Income/Dak is determined on the following basis: Workload for Receipt of Returns: It has been the experience of the Department that 60 per cent of the Paper Returns of Income are received in the months of March/July. The balance 40% returns of income are received in rest of the year. In any case to cater to the rush period of March/July, the department is already making alternative arrangements which would still continue. Hence the effective workload for receipt of paper returns for ASK centres remains only 40 per cent of the total returns received by all the assessing officers housed in the building where ASK is made functional. Workload for Receipt of Dak Unlike returns of income, there is no rush period identified for dak. Hence the total dak received by all the assessing officers/other officers housed in the building where ASK is functional is the effective workload. 3. On the above basis, following ready reckoner is prepared for working out requirement of nodes: Requirement of Nodes for Receipt of Returns of Income Effective Workload Requirement of Nodes FD BD Up to 20,000 returns 1 1 Next 30,000 returns i.e. 50,000 2 1 Next 40,000 returns i.e. 90,000 3 1 Next 50,000 returns i.e. 1,40,000 4 1 Next 30,000 returns i.e. 1,70,000 5 1 Next 40,000 returns i.e. 2,10,000 6 1 Next 50,000 returns I.e. 2,60,000 7 1 And so on Requirement of Nodes for Receipt of Daks Effective Workload Requirement of Nodes FD BD Up to 20,000 Dak 1 1 Next 30,000 dak i.e. 50,000 2 1 Next 40,000 dak i.e. 90,000 3 2 Next 50,000 dak i.e. 1,40,000 4 3 Next 30,000 dak i.e. 1,70,000 5 4 Next 40,000 dak i.e. 2,10,000 6 5 Next 50,000 dak I.e. 2,60,000 7 6 And so on Apart from the above, one additional node is required at each ASK Centre for May I Help You Counter. Requirement of approximate area required for ASK Sl. No. Number of Nodes worked out for ASK (including May I Help You counter) Requirement of approximate space (in sq. ft) 1 Locations having 3 nodes 600 2 Locations having 4 nodes 700 3 Locations having 5 nodes 1000 4 Locations having 6 to 10 nodes 1400 5 Locations having 11 to 15 nodes 2000 6 Locations having 16 to 25 nodes 2800 Requirement of budget for ASK Sl. No Number of nodes Required Cost of Setting up of ASK (in Rs. Lacs) Cost of nodes (in lacs) Total Budget (in lacs) 1 Locations having 3 nodes 22.84 0.69 23.53 2 Locations having 4 Nodes 27.32 0.92 28.24 3 Locations having 5 nodes 42.68 1.15 43.83 4 Single ITO Station 7 0.23 7.23