The Directorate of Income Tax and NIIT award certificates to the 2nd Batch of Tax Return Preparers (TRPs)
Adds 3,685 specialists to the existing pool of certified TRPsAim to bring convenience of Tax filing to the doorsteps of Tax payers across the country
New Delhi, February 6, 2013: The Directorate of Income Tax and NIIT Limited, leading Global Talent Development Corporation and Asia’s largest IT trainer, certified and felicitated the 2nd batch of successful students of Tax Return Preparer Scheme (TRPS), at a function held in the city today.
Certificates to 40 TRPs from Delhi/ NCR were given away by Shri S.S. Palanimanickam, Hon’ble Minister of State for Finance (Revenue), Government of India (GOI). Also present on the occasion were Shri S. S. Rana, Member Personnel & Vigilance and Revenue; Shri U K Shukla, DG (Admin), Mr. P. Rajendran, Chief Operating Officer, NIIT Ltd, and Manish Mohan, Head, India Enterprise Learning Solutions, NIIT Ltd.
TRPS is an initiative by The Directorate of Income Tax (DIT), Government of India, to increase awareness and compliance amongst taxpayers through larger community participation.
NIIT has been mandated by DIT to train and certify Tax Return Preparers (TRPs) across the country. These TRPs are certified to file returns of individual and HUF income tax assessees as well as file TDS & Service Tax Returns of Small and Medium Enterprises.
Shri S.S. Palanimanickam, Hon’ble Minister of State for Finance (Revenue), GOI, congratulated the graduating batch of TRPs and wished them success in their career. He applauded TRPS as a unique initiative to increase the tax payer base of the country, along with increasing employability of graduates.
NIIT utilized its nationwide network to test graduates across the country, and selected 5000 candidates who underwent a rigorous training programme on Income Tax filing procedures. The successful candidates will be referred to as ‘Certified Tax Return Preparers’ and will obtain an unique Identification Number from DIT, which will authorize them under Income Tax Act, 1961 to work as self-employed Tax Return Preparers.
Addressing the students, Shri S. S. Rana, Member Personnel & Vigilance and Revenue said, “I take this opportunity to congratulate all candidates who have successfully cleared the training. The TRP scheme was conceptualized with the objective to simplify Tax filing procedures for the benefit of tax payers. With NIIT’s proven expertise in training delivery, this initiative is helping us create a pool of certified tax preparers.”
Speaking on the occasion Mr. P. Rajendran, Chief Operating Officer, NIIT Ltd. said, “This unique and innovative scheme of Directorate of Income Tax will provide new career and self-employment opportunities for educated youth. Additionally, more people in the middle income groups will get encouraged to file their tax returns in time and at an affordable cost. I would like to thank the Directorate of Income Tax for their continued confidence in NIIT to execute this program for the second batch of the Tax Return Preparers Scheme."
Launched by The Directorate of Income Tax in 2006, TRPS is aimed at raising the level of awareness and compliance amongst marginal tax payers. The founding objectives include - providing an employment avenue for unemployed or partially employed graduates and reducing the cost of compliance for small tax payers – leading to an increased assessee base for the Government.
NIIT trained 5000 TRPs in the first batch and 3737 TRPs were certified after undergoing a rigorous selection process, training and certification exam.
About TRPS
TRPS is an initiative by The Directorate of Income Tax, Government of India, to increase awareness of tax laws by enhancing community participation. The TRPs are put through rigorous training program on Income Tax filing procedures along with usage of software and on-line tools. The curriculum was designed by experts and NIIT’s instructional design methodology. The successful candidates, referred to as ‘Certified Tax Return Preparers’, obtain a unique Identification Number from DIT.
The training conducted is, “End to End” from identification of opportunity to filing of claim, introduction to policy, market identification and lead generation, handling of taxpayer situations, introduction to scheme to taxpayers, filling up of ITR forms, TDS forms, credit mechanism, rewards etc. The scope of TRPs has now been included to include TDS settlements & becoming e-return intermediaries.
To help TRPs file returns, a helpdesk manned by tax experts has also been set up. Further details about TRPs are available through a dedicated portalwww.trpscheme.com