Chennai Diaries

Okay. I will try. Time is not an issue. I will discuss with my tax advisor whether it would affect our appeal with ITAT. He is the one who told many of his clients tried that without any success. PMO refer it to the Central Board of Direct Taxes, in general and Appellate Tribunal with whom the case is now is the next level. To be honest, my assessment is too complicated to narrate the grievance. It includes plain and simple lack of understanding of Income-tax Act, denial of tax exemption allowed under section 54, and callous attitude of denying the refund of an order passed by the assessing officer for nearly six months explaining they have collection drive. It is assessees money held by the revenues since April 2019. If the appeal is going to be heard in a month or two, I am not sure whether escalation will help.

 

Day 5 - Chennai Diaries

This morning we dedicated to fix the caterer for our function and then visit my uncle’s residence to meet the mourning wife of my uncle. The caterer promised to meet us at 9 am but showed up at 10:30 am. It brought some irritation but when I met this guy, all my anger disappeared in a trice. He is a gem of a guy from an excellent family. He pretty much said he would handle everything needed for the event including flower arrangement, Mango leaves tying, banana tree tying at the entrance of the house, cow, goody bags, chairs and tables for dining and chairs for the guests to be seated. He was ready to prepare breakfast and lunch for the day. He agreed to supervise everything himself. I gave advance to demonstrate our commitment. He was reluctant but I insisted. He was so young and got married only 2 months back. He treated us with a lot of respect. We felt comfortable dealing with such a nice guy. He agreed to come with me to see the site on a later date to decide the event plan. He is helping his dad’s business.

Around 11:30 am we started our trip to meet with my uncle’s wife. She recovered well from the loss and handling things so nicely on her own including her husband’s financial matters. She said she suffered a lot during his health setback. Luckily their son reached a few days before my uncle’s death from the US. He is a Carnatic singer and a well educated young man. I have not seen my uncle or his wife for more than 25 years. She promised to attend our function on June 2nd. We were happy to see her being brave to handle everything with confidence.

Later in the evening, my wife had a get together with her classmates in Adharsh Vidyalaya in Adyar. After her return, we decided to have dinner at Vrindavan Restaurant in Woodlands. We really enjoyed the food and returned home around 8:30 pm. (To be continued)

 

Dear Thyagarajan Sir, My faith on anything to be done in India is at 10%. Everything looks great in paper with so much of pomp and show. The arrogance with which ITO functions and the contactless assessment done with no one reviewing the data doesn’t give me a good impression. The ITO lacked knowledge of the Income Tax Act and the Dispute Resolution Panel lacked online data review capability. At best, India’s online system requires an enormous training to the existing revenue department staff without which the assessees will not feel helped. The service mind to the tax-payer doesn’t exist in India. PMO can’t change this situation overnight even if the government intention is good. I’m sorry to be so blunt because my experience has been consistently bad. If you go to income tax.gov.in, you would see a grievance cell in it. I have filed grievances from time to time through my CA but none got any response. I feel it is a waste of time. May be a few will be responded to to be covered by the press.

 

Last night dinner was excellent in Vrindavan Restaurant in Woodlands. It was quiet and enjoyable. We didn’t have much crowd. Probably 5-10 more people intensely listening to IPL score. My wife, myself, our driver and our helper at home went for this dinner. The menu items were delicious and it is surprising they maintained the standard for years. Right after that we had ice cream at the shop right door. When I am on vacation I violate all the diet plan. I can increase the intensity when I get back home.

This morning I visited the bank to draw some cash. I had a long conversation with the brand new Branch Manager how to invest refund money, if we get it. She introduced me to the investment manager who had a brief call with me. I also told them that the bank denied loan last year for the construction as I was 68 years old and their policy doesn’t allow loans above the age of 65.

This afternoon I had lunch with a friend who I knew since 1979 and was instrumental in selling my parents’ property, buying the land for our new house, and sell our flat to reinvest in the new home as the IT refund is indefinitely delayed. He invited his tax advisor and his wife to this lunch meeting. This advisor asked me about the status of the appeal and I explained the status. He felt my refund due is genuine and as per law, it will be refunded soon. His wife mostly talked about the US and her son’s ascension in his career. We shared our bitter experience with Kalyana Malai in finding a bride for our respective sons. She survived the attack to draw money under the pretext of finding a match whereas I lost Rs 100,000/- and learned an important lesson. What was committed when the money was paid was entirely different than what they attempted to do. They didn’t even deliver anything not even 5% effort for the value promised. As my friend was leaving for the US for his son’s graduation, he invited me to have dinner with his family on May 12th (for my wife’s birthday) and then again have lunch at his residence on May 13th (for my birthday).

The staff in this restaurant recognized me as I was visiting them two consecutive days and my friend made fun of me that I was more popular than locals.

My wife again went for her shopping. The physical therapist who my MIL consulted regularly came home. I consulted him for my numbness in my feet for the past 4-5 years. He explained it is happening because of tight muscles at the hip and with electric treatment, back belt and exercises, the feet will be back to normal in 3 months. His words gave me a great relief as I have been struggling with this issue for 4-5 years.

 

Thank you for your wishes @SuiDhaaga. We will never lose hopes that things will turn positive.

 

I woke up at 2:30 am and luckily remembered to make a phone call to the Vedic Scholar who agreed to perform our Grahapravesam. He is a busy person with almost all temples throughout the world invite him to perform Kumbabhisekam for the temples. He is in the US and returning to India only on May 12th. I called him to get the time for our Grahapravesam even though we know the date and also asked for an auspicious date and time to fix the front door of the house. He gave both over the phone quickly during his busy schedule. He had a being consulted even by the present government of India and all the ministers in the cabinet.

The vehicle was delayed as the driver waited for receiving a rented laptop I asked for. I told him it can wait for a day and asked him to leave without it as we had so much to do. The first work we had this morning is to get the life-certificate for my MIL’s pension. She has lost all her thumb lines totally hence unable to take finger printing for nearly three years. We decided to visit EPF office in Rayapettah. Our vehicle was not permitted inside the campus and when I told the watchman that my MIL is 82 years and unable to walk too much, he allowed the vehicle to go in for dropping her. There was a wheel-chair at the entrance and as soon as she sat on it, one of the gatekeeper came running to indicate to us that she could go in without waiting on line. When we entered, she was taken to Life Certificate department. They took a photograph of her and issued an immediate life-certificate and told her all of her arrears will be paid through her bank account in a week to 10 days. All the employees served with a smile and wisher her the best when we left. I was so impressed with the service with no expectation. I realized that some part of the government works efficiently while others are living in the past like Income-tax department. Even though I tried to convince my MIL to give up the pension, she insisted on going to EPF office.

After dropping my MIL back home I had another assignment for myself. Last year when we came, we realized my in-law’s residence was still in my FIL’s name even though he died in 2013. I wanted to transfer the property to my MIL and my wife. I got hold of a lawyer who arranged for writing a will for my MIL and also helped submitting for legal heir certificate with the Tahsildar. Even though it costs me some money and an inspection of my in-laws place besides an interview of my MIL, the legal heir certificate was issued in a week. This time I wanted to transfer the property to their names in the corporation records. When I visited the de-centralized office nearby, they requested a copy of the title deed, copies of the legal heir certificate, birth certificate for my wife, and IDs for my MIL and my wife. I had to go to the bank to take out the original title deed from the locker to take copies. Having gone to the bank, I deposited enough money to pay the locker rent that will be due in September. Tomorrow morning I will submit all paper work to transfer the property in my MIL’s and my wife’s name in the Corporation records.

I started a physical therapy for my hip pain and resultant numbness in my feet for the past three days. He comes everyday at 3 pm. He was also going to give me a belt to wear. My wife went to stitch her blouses and I heard that major Taylors now ask for prior appointments. That is it for the day and I am deep into Mumbai Vs Bangalore IPL game. Bye for now.