Kamal Baruah
(kamal.baruah@yahoo.com)
It was a short but threatening text, while a recent SMS on the first week of July to our mobile devices had woken up individual taxpayers across India, reminding them to file an essential ITR before July 31st to avoid the last-week rush. Alas! Text message alerts kept notifying us of several reminders on every alternate day. As a result, there are a hive of activities in financial institutions. Tax consultants are in their heyday during July and assist in filing ITRs for a lot of taxpayers as the July 31 deadline is set by the Income Tax Department, whose accounts are not required to be audited. Besides all the support from CAs, one can easily get personalised care from the Income Tax Helpdesk during this month.
As usual, there is a hectic business schedule in the morning hours at banks, but bankers are astounded to see the large number of customers, especially senior citizens, who arrive at a bank who are in need of a statement. There are so many economic jargons used by a particular group of people, especially in July, that most other people do not understand. Customers demand a series of services, from annual statements to statements of earned interest. Banks keep an eye on the whole customer journey to offer real-time help.
Besides, there are demands of Form No. 16, 16A, 16B, Part-A, Part-B, Traces, TDS, Income Tax, Advance Tax, Self-Assessment Tax, Challan No. ITNS 280, and whatever else one likes to call it. Customer care professionals need to listen more than ever; in fact, they lend them their ears for how better listening can win and keep customers. That makes it critically important to attract new customers and retain existing ones. In spite of the fact that people have a negative view of the banking sector because banks have projects that take years to reach fruition, sometimes employees sitting at their desks fail to build that relationship with each customer that walks through the door. After all, we live in an age of e-commerce.
Young customers may think they want an all-digital world, but senior citizens actually don’t; branches remain key to personal engagement and emotional connection with customers. Despite the availability of various apps for integrated banking solutions, a dedicated website for pensioners, and WhatsApp banking services, there has been much higher footfall in July. They demand everything from banks to ensure a hassle-free, smooth tax filing ITR process at tax consultants, as determining which ITR to choose can be challenging and ensuring accuracy and compliance is crucial.
Besides, there are demands on bank statements and passbooks for interest on a savings account and fixed deposits as compelled by tax consultants. Though bank statements collected by visiting banks are chargeable, customers don’t mind paying bank charge fees. Now most of the financial institutions provide interest paid, accrual, total, and overhead tax-deducted certificates (Form 16B) on one downloaded page. Part-A of Form 16, which contains details of tax deducted and deposited by the employer, can be downloaded from TRACES, a centralised processing cell, by the deductor for a given TAN, PAN, and financial year. However, Part B of Form 16 contains details of the salary and deductions of the employees.
There are even demands for Form 26AS (Annual Tax Statement) from the financial institutions, which is a summary of taxpayers’ information provided by the Income Tax Department. It shows details of tax deducted on your behalf by deductors, details of tax deposited by taxpayers, and tax refunds received in the financial year. This form can also be accessed from the Income Tax Department’s website.
Customers have high expectations for their single-window counters, where all facilities should be available in one place. What comes across in our day-to-day banking is a great sense of humour and happiness too. We share at leisure. Unfortunately, banks are even trolled for the infamous lunch break. Should they work through it or take a break? The other day, one senior citizen was in rather a hurry at my desk on the very afternoon after lunch, enquiring about Form No. 16. Soon I served him quickly; the next need for filing ITR was done at my desk itself. Unfortunately, that was not available in banks. Probably, he heard of single-window service at banks, and definitely came his anticipation. As the trust is the most important aspect of banking,.
The festive time isn’t over until we make sure customers are satisfied and delighted across all interactions. All types of Form 16 and related documents finally head to the Income Tax Return. Come this July and join the ITR festivities. A worsening flood situation may put a damper on the activities of ITR, but you don’t expect a deadline extension from our Madam Finance Minister. Let’s join the IT Department’s Proud Filer Badge before the deadline to avoid various penalties for late filing the Income Tax Return for FY 2023-2024. That would surely provide financial institutions with some respite after the Form-16 festivities.