Friday, May 8, 2009

Taxpayers taught ropes of VAT e-filing

Inland Revenue Offices (IRO), Area No 1 and 2, Kathmandu and Lazimpat office organised a demonstration programme on e-filing of value added tax (VAT) for taxpayers here today.
Taxpayers, auditors and officials of the offices took active part in the programme.
Though the government has started e-filing of VAT since this fiscal year, very few taxpayers are using the facility.
"It is for the benefit of the taxpayers," said Shanta Bahadur Shrestha, director general of the Inland Revenue Departmant (IRD). "Taxpayers need not go to the tax office to pay the VAT if they learn the e-filing system."
However, even now very few tax payers are finding it convient to use the e-filing of VAT that saves time, energy and prevents administrative hassles. The use of e-technology in the tax administration has also reduced the workload of employees and increased their efficiency.
The training was organised under the Taxpayer Education Programme of IRD that has from this week started action against around 6,400 Voluntary Disclosure of Income Sources (VDIS) defaulters. Some of the suspected businesses were raided last week. "We are still investigating," Shrestha added.
IRD collected a total of Rs 1.51 billion under the scheme from around 3,600 people, though it had compiled a list of 10,000 people. The government had extended the deadline by a month after the industry captains urged to accede to their request.
In the first phase, the government managed to rake in Rs 1.42 billion. The original deadline had expired on February 11. However, the extension came in handy for the government, if the collections are anything to go by. It collected an additional Rs 467.8 million from 1,600 people within the extended period.
Finance Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai had announced the scheme during his budget speech on September 19, 2008.

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