New Delhi, Jan 25 (PTI): Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said the government is looking into the recommendations of the Parthasarathi Shome committee for simplifying tax administration.

”The Shome Committee report has given several recommendations which we are at a very advanced stage of looking into. It has suggested certain reforms in tax administration,” he said, addressing the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal here.

Jaitley said a committee has also been set up under Justice R. V. Easwar to simplify the the Income Tax Act.

”Laws must be simple, so even if you have a large number of assessees and you have a large number of population, if your laws are simple, then the possibility of excessive litigation itself does not arise,” Jaitley added.

Referring to his last Budget proposal of reducing corporate tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent over four years along with removal of tax exemptions, Jaitley said it would make the tax system cleaner and simpler and will ensure that ”oppressive taxmen does not hover over us”.

The Tax Administration Reform Commission headed by Shome had pitched for a separate budget allocation to ensure time-bound tax refund and a passbook scheme for Tax Deduction at Source.

The TARC submitted its report to Jaitley in June 2014.

Jaitley said that once a simpler tax system comes into place, there will be fewer appeals and further efforts would be made to bring down arrears.

”I do hope that with all these changes, an improved performance in the tribunal which you are endeavouring to get, the arrears will be low, our tax buoyancies will be higher and the harassment to the assessee would probably be least,” he said.