CBDT's Surabhi Ahluwalia On Online Response Management
On Income Tax Department’s (ITD) journey of online ‘response’ management…
Providing efficient taxpayer services is one of the key ITD objectives. As part of continuing efforts in that direction, ITD made its foray into social media in 2015 by marking its presence on Twitter. In the first phase, the Twitter activity was restricted to information dissemination and publicity campaigns, that were more onesided. However, gauging stakeholders’ reaction, and urged by the present Hon’ble Finance Minister, to leverage social media as a quick and convenient interface for providing taxpayer services, ITD started engaging with stakeholders through online ‘response’ management from July 2019 via its official Twitter handle.
The Twitter handle has been used more as a tool for reaching out to taxpayers and professionals, addressing their general queries and concerns, assisting them with compliance issues, etc. Thus, the engagement of ITD through social media, such as Twitter, has been more from the perspective of online ‘response’ management rather than reputation management. However, to the extent that any ‘online response management’ has an element of ‘reputation management’, this is only incidental to the former primary function. Over the last one year, the scope of such online response management by ITD has expanded both in qualitative as well as quantitative terms. The ITD Twitter handle has evolved as one of the primary tools for disseminating timely information to taxpayers/professionals as well as for listening to and proactively addressing their concerns by responding to them within a reasonable time.
On ‘ORM’s role in ITD’s outreach plan…
There are established formal channels in the ITD for the redressal of issues experienced by the taxpayers. However, in line with ITD’s focus on taxpayer service, coupled with our willingness to innovate and keep pace with the changing times, we also consciously chose to be on the platforms where the taxpayers are. Since our service recipients, present and potential, across demographics, are comfortable engaging via social media platforms, the use of online response management through such platforms has become an essential component of ITD’s outreach plan, with the purpose of easing compliance. Our Twitter handle is used for outreach activities, to disseminate information in a timely manner, to educate taxpayers about processes, publicise new direct tax initiatives and also to listen to feedback and public sentiment about our schemes. This has been especially useful during the pandemic, keeping with our focus on digital communication as laid down by the Government. Our Twitter outreach campaigns are amplified on Facebook and Instagram as well.
On ITD’s digital adoption…
The ITD has already shifted most of its compliance online. Almost the entire gamut of processes, from applying for PAN, filing of Income Tax Returns, to conduct of assessment and payment of taxes, is done online. Therefore, in a way, the ITD is already well on its way to accelerated digital adoption as far as compliance is concerned. On the taxpayer services front too, the ITD has put in place various online functionalities. The ORM through social media platforms has, however, made a difference in providing a quick and convenient tool for connecting with, and assisting taxpayers on an almost real-time basis. At present, the ITD is primarily using its Twitter handle for ORM, while making foray on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn as well.
On partnerships and collaborations…
The core functions of ITD are tax collection and the provision of taxpayer services. ITD operates under statute-backed rights and obligations and many aspects of its functioning are highly specialised, requiring in-depth understanding of the governing rules, regulations, and processes. Therefore, the ORM functions are best managed or led by an in-house team drawn from the vertices dealing with the relevant subject-matter. That said, ORM has a technical component to it - which is, listening to and identifying the conversations relevant to ITD from ORM’s perspective. For such support, an external agency partner is required. The external partner’s support is also required in designing and pitching the awareness and other publicity campaigns and adapting them to forms and media suitable for the particular hosting platform. The agency’s assistance in providing a media perspective to the campaigns is also vital.
On ORM trends in India…
Some sort of ORM has become a sine qua non for all organisations, including Government. While the private sector has generally been using ORM as a tool for managing reputation, the increased use of technology, accelerated by the pandemic, is compelling them to re-orient their entire business operations around digital platforms. For private organisations, therefore, ORM is seen as having become a primary tool for engagement. For Government organisations also, ORM is becoming increasingly important, given the preference of service recipients for digital tools for engaging with and availing public sector services as also the focus of the Government to provide services in a quick and seamless manner with the aim of ease of compliance or doing business
