Income tax (I-T) offices will function 24x7 till 31st of March in order to complete the collecting the remaining revenue of more than Rs. 50,000 crore before the end of financial year 2013-14.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has declared that its tax collection offices would function around the clock, and that no official who is on tax collection duty will take leave till March 31.

Issuing the order, the CBDT said, "Assessing officers and Additional Commissioners, Commissioners and Chief Commissioners involved in assessment work and collection of taxes shall not leave their headquarters till March 31."

The CBDT, however, authorized the board member in-charge of respective income tax zones to sanction leave or any other kind of detachment of the concerned official in case of emergency.

On Saturday, all head offices of the I-T department remained open to take a decision on all cases of penalty as well as compounding of offences that are expected to bring in long-awaited, additional revenue. According to an I-T official, nearly 5,000 crore could be gained from under this category.

As per available data, as of March 20, the I-T Department needed to further achieve net collection of Rs. 50,204 crore before the end of current financial year to achieve government's target of Rs. 6.36 lakh crore for the fiscal 2014.