The Beginning

In the year 1922, on the recommendations of the All-India Income Tax Committee appointed in 1921, the Indian Income Tax Act XI of 1922 came into being. This Act of 1922 marked an important change from the preceding Act VII of 1918 by shifting the administration of income tax from the hands of Provincial Government to the Central Government. The foundation of a proper system of tax administration in India was laid pursuant to the enactment of this Act. In the same year, Shri Durgeswar Sarmah, ICS, Commissioner of Land Revenue, was given the additional charge of Commissioner of Income Tax, Assam, with headquarters at Shillong. This marked the beginning of Direct Tax administration in the North Eastern Region (There is no record of organized tax administration in the Region prior to 1922). Soon thereafter, Income Tax Offices were opened at Sylhet (which was then part of the greater Barak Valley of Assam Province and is now in present day Bangladesh), Nagaon (in Middle Assam) and Dibrugarh (in Upper Assam) in 1926. Income Tax Offices were subsequently established at Guwahati in 1932 and at Jorhat in 1934.