Form-C to be issued to traders for filing e-returns

PATNA: The government on Sunday decided to take a tough line towards tax-paying traders who have not yet adopted the mode of e-payment to pay taxes. As an extension of the same, a comparatively tougher line has been adopted towards the traders who have not been filing e-returns.
At a high-level review meeting of the commercial taxes department held on Monday, it was decided not to issue Form-C to traders who have not been filing e-returns.The Form-C is issued by the department to the traders concerned to enable them to conduct inter-state business and trade. Obviously, the department has adopted strict stance towards traders who have not been filing e-returns and also conducting inter-state business and trade.
The decision in this regard was taken at the high-level meeting that deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi presided on Monday. After reviewing the responses of the traders with regard to the department's injunction to make e-payment and also file e-returns, he ordered the senior officials not to issue Form-C to traders who have not been filing e-returns.
Modi asked the department's officials to ensure that the government's policy that has demanded of the traders that they make e-payment is strictly adhered to. He also directed them to inquire into reasons regarding non-compliance with the government's order to traders regarding adoption of the mode of e-payment and filing of e-returns.
Earlier, an in-depth review revealed that of the 325 traders who have been paying taxes in the range of more than Rs 1 crore annually, only 254 of them had made the payment of taxes through the e-payment mode. On the other hand, only 280 of them had filed e-returns. Similarly, in the lot of 1,259 traders who have been paying taxes more than Rs 10 lakh to the department, only 706 of them had complied with the order regarding adoption of the e-payment mode, while only 836 had filed e-returns.
Curiously, it had also been made mandatory for the traders in the lower bracket paying taxes more than Rs 1 lakh, but less than Rs 10 lakh annually that they also adopt the system of e-payment for paying taxes and e-return for filing the returns from April this year. However, as the review of their performance on this count showed, of the total 5,059 traders in this bracket, only 643 traders had made the e-payment, and on the other hand, only 590 had filed e-returns.
Given the backdrop, Modi directed the officials to assess the situation and find out the reasons behind their non-compliance, and also identify the problems, if any, that the traders were facing. He also said that three other banks - the Bank of Baroda, Central Bank of India and the Bank of India -- have been authorized to receive the e-payments made by them. Earlier, only two banks - the State Bank of India and the Punjab National Bank -- enjoyed this status. Modi said that authorization has been given to these other banks on the advice and demand of the traders.
The compliance on the part of traders of the aforesaid three categories had become absolutely necessary, since the department has been observing 2011-12 fiscal as the `year of e-governance', which has mandated full computerization of all the activities of the department by the completion of the current fiscal. Earlier, computerization of the department's major activities had been achieved under "mission mode" at an investment of Rs 51.21 crore.