The Hindu Business Line : E-payment mandatory from April for some excise assessees

MAKING IT EASIER: The Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, and the Revenue Secretary, Mr K.M. Chandrasekhar, at the launch of simplified electronic accounting system for central excise and service tax payments `EASIEST' in the Capital on Wednesday. — Ramesh Sharma

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New Delhi March 7 From April 1, Central excise assessees who have to pay excise duty of Rs 50 lakh and above in a financial year would have to mandatorily do so through e-payment.

"The Central excise rules have been amended. It would not be possible for such assessees to go through a manual process by going to an office or treasury for remitting the amount. It has to be only by e-payment," said the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, today.

Speaking at a function organised for the launch of the Electronic Accounting System in Excise and Service Tax (EASIEST), Mr Chidambaram added that he expected the e-payment method to be extended to all Central excise assessees in due course.

"With corporates now familiar about paying income-tax through electronic mode, they should have no difficulty in paying excise duty also through e-payment mode."

He also said that assessees would soon realise that e-payment would be the most convenient way of paying excise duty.

The EASIEST scheme, which is to be introduced throughout the country from April 1, is conceptualised to address the weaknesses in the existing tax accounting system.

The manual system required the taxpayer to file four copies of challan.

EASIEST would require only a single challan for payment of Central excise and service tax.

It would capture all the essential information required from the assessee in relation to tax payments.

The scheme uses the electronic environment for expeditious transmission of tax information, so as to ensure greater accuracy and reliability of tax payment data.

It has also provided for directory-based validation checks by the receiving banks and has an in-built mechanism for rectification of errors, which should also ensure ease in reconciliation of accounts.

As part of the Government's ongoing e-governance initiative, it is also proposed to reconcile the data so captured from the single challan with the tax returns filed by Central excise and service tax assessees.

It would be uploaded and hosted on a Central database for excise and service tax as part of the automation project in excise and service tax.

More Stories on : Excise and Customs | E-Governance

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