The Central Board of Direct Taxes (#CBDT) has laid down operational guidelines for e-assessments of select non-corporate taxpayers to be undertaken as a pilot in five metros.

It has now specified the format and standards for ensuring secured transmission of electronic communication between the taxpayer and the Income-Tax Department.

The move comes three months after the CBDT announced its intent use ‘electronic mail’-based communication for assessment.

It had then announced that a pilot project would be launched in five “non-corporate charges” at Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Chennai.

Initially, 100 cases would be identified for e-hearing in each of these five regions and a major part of the assessment would be done electronically, the CBDT had then decided. Only cases taken up for scrutiny were to be covered under the pilot.