CA Day celebrated at WIRC of ICAI with tree plantation, Swachh Bharat activity and Cultural functions

Mumbai : The 74^th CA Day celebrations kicked off amidst fanfare on July 1 at the Western India Regional Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (WIRC of ICAI) Headquarters in Mumbai. The celebrations included Flag Hoisting, Tree Plantation, Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan by CA Murtuza Onali Kachwala, Chairman, WIRC of ICAI and Secretary Shweta Jain; and a cultural evening of singing by the Chartered Accountants.

Chief Guest of the celebration was Ms Geetha Ravichandran, Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Mumbai. In her address to the Chartered Accountants assembled at WIRC’s Auditorium in Mumbai, Ms Ravichandran said ICAI has an important role to play in educating the tax payers on the adaptability to a faceless system of the IT department and the importance of registering in the e-filing portal.

“The idea to bring faceless regime in assessment and appeals of IT was to bring more transparency, professionalism, precision in decision making, and reduce discretion with tax officials, which was much dreaded. However, there is a severe lack of compliance among the tax payers and assesses due to lack of adaptability to technology and hesitancy,” said Ms Ravichandran.

IT department has been becoming more tech and data driven off-late. With the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) getting active, the speed of the processing of the returns, and the refunds have gone up.

CAs have done a commendable work in getting the GST system in place, which has brought in the much-needed change in the economy. With the compliances in GST laws with a lot of information flowing, it has had a similar effect as far as IT compliance goes, she said.

“Also, like an Eagle or Garuda, which is the symbol on ICAI’s logo, CAs have a good eye-sight in forensics and must use this ability in flagging relevant tax issues to the tax department,” said Ms. Ravichandran.

Responding to Ms Ravichandran, CA Murtuza Kachwala, Chairman, WIRC of ICAI said, “We will be more than happy to work together with the IT department in helping the tax payers and assesses towards adapting a faceless system and e-filing.  “More than 3.35 lakh CAs have passed out during the past 72 years. CAs have been the partners in Nation Building. Be it any regulations – GST, RERA, sudden changes in Companies Act or Faceless Assessment in Companies Act, CAs have been the first to read, understand, and train themselves, government officials, companies, businessmen, students and the public. We have been educating the tax evaders in paying their tax; public in paying taxes the right way, filing returns etc. and thus significantly contributing to the country’s economy,” said CA Kachwala.

“The current generation of CAs can specialise in multiple areas. Technology is changing the face of services delivered to the clients. ICAI has started the journey of Automation and Digitisation. With the Self-Service Portal (SSP) coming, students can now do the entire information exchange and transactions such as buying course material online without the need to visit the nearest ICAI Branch,” said CA Kachwala.

Mallikarjun Utture, Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, Mumbai, said, “I congratulate WIRC of ICAI towards the celebration of 74^th CA Day. IT Department and ICAI have played a great role together in shaping the economic growth of the nation.”

CA Shweta Jain, Secretary, WIRC of ICAI said, PM Narendra Modi’s recent statement that a CA’s signature is more valuable than that of a Prime Minister increases his responsibility to conduct ethically.

According to her, more women are aspiring towards CA education today. “The CA education has been becoming more flexible and easier for the girls as it can be done amidst career breaks such as marriage or motherhood. As quality online education has become the new norm-post pandemic, ICAI has transferred a good chunk of its courses online. This will definitely benefit the women.”

CA (Dr.) Debashis Mitra, President, ICAI said, “Next generation CA professionals will be aligned with the changes in the areas of technology, International Development and National Education Policies. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has in-principally approved changes proposed in CA education by ICAI. The proposal has been web hoisted for public comments, the last day for which is July 1, 2022.”

CA Aniket Talati, Vice President, ICAI said, “As India is growing into a global economic power, CA fraternity will rise to the occasion and bring glory to our profession with a focus on sustainability, women’s empowerment and financial tax literacy.”