The Hindu Business Line : Kolkata Central Excise sets up service tax task force

THE Kolkata zone of the Central Excise Department is evolving a `new stream of service tax' administration that encompasses as many as 10 Commisionerates, with greater emphasis on voluntary compliance by service providers.

Participating in an interactive session on `Streamling the service tax administration', organised by The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI) today, Ms Sunipa Basu, Chief Commissioner of Central Excise, Kolkata said that a `Service Tax Task Force' has been set up under Mr Biswajit Dutta, Commissioner, with the objective of creating a one-window facility for hassle-free payment of service tax.

A few Commissionerates will be designated to deal exclusively with service tax collections.

Ms Basu said that the excise department, on behalf of the office of the Director-General of Service Tax, New Delhi has also taken up a streetwise survey of potential service providers in which range officers would individually check on as yet unregistered ones.

"We plan to compile a street directory for sending the message to every service provider that service tax registration was now a must, if legal wrangling at a later stage has to be avoided."

She described the survey as somewhat akin to a city census of potential service providers who will be tapped for augmenting service tax collections, which is going to be entirely driven by voluntary compliance.

The current year's all-India service tax collections target is pegged at Rs 10,000 crore, up from the Rs 8,000 crore for the previous year. The tax extends to some 58 services.

Admitting that service tax collections for the zone have been quite low so far, Mr Biswajit Dutta, Commissioner, Central Excise (Kolkata-V), said that awareness programmes are being designed to sensitise service providers that it makes good business sense to pay the tax early, rather than dodge it and complicate matters.

Conceding that the revenues garnered were much less than what the department nets through excise collections from the manufacturing sector, he said that efforts are being made to cover the entire 58 areas.

He added that all inter-related work pertaining to insurance auxiliary services, like services rendered by an actuary or an insurance intermediary like insurance agent, are also being covered.

Commenting on the procedural and penalty provisions pertaining to service tax, Mr A. Dhar, Joint Commissioner, said that since the accent was strictly on voluntary compliance, the provisions, relying heavily on self-assessment/self-declaration modes, were far les complicated.