The income-tax department will start faceless assessment from October 8, 2019 but it won’t be mandatory for taxpayers who don’t have an e-filing account or a PAN, a directive from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) issued on Thursday stated. Further, in cases where the department has conducted raids and instances categorised under ‘extraordinary circumstances’ will also not be covered under the e-assessment system. Additionally, e-assessment will also not be necessary in cases which involve administrative difficulties, or have certain extraordinary circumstances and these will be exceptions for the new system, the circular said. Naveen Wadhwa, DGM at Taxmann said, “Every year income-tax department prescribes guidelines to be followed by the assessing officers for conducting e-assessment through e-filing portal. For the financial year 2019-20, similar guidelines have been issued.