To encourage greater tax compliance and bring more people in the tax net, state finance minister Amit Mitra announced simplification of way bills and a host of e-governance services on Friday. Mitra said traders could generate their way bills online from next week itself.

The minister said that new e-governance steps were taken to prevent businessmen from being harassed. "Gradually, tax compliance will increase. We don't want businessmen to be harassed. The new online way bill will be simple. Now, a single document will replace the current two-part way bill. No physical document will be required from now

. Hence, there will be no delay and chances of loss or misplacement will not take place. Traders can generate and print their own way bill and need not send it physically," said Mitra.

Once the e-governance services are in place, incidents of tax evasion can be informed online "Once information on tax evasion is registered, the informer will get an acknowledgement slip and his identity will remain secret. The information will be verified by the commercial tax commissioner."

Mitra further said, "Often, there are cases of harassment by government officials. But there was no grievance redress mechanism. Traders can complain against this. There was no grievance redressal mechanism. But

Once the e-governance service becomes effective from January 24, businessmen can lodge complaints with their identity undisclosed. Status of the complaints can be checked online. The commissioner of commercial tax will be probing them."

Mitra said businessmen will be able to file online applications for an Industrial Promotion Assistance Scheme, round-the-clock electronically

and will get acknowledgement for it. He said e-payment under Industrial Promotion Assistance Scheme would benefit small and medium enterprises

Another trader-friendly step that Mitra announced on Friday was online sales tax deduction at source to overcome problems of the manual system. Traders will save time by avoiding repetition. After TDS, they will automatically receive a deduction certificate.

Mitra said revenue would increase with increased tax compliance if the tax base was wide enough. However, he refused to state the percentage of revenue growth.

If the state's revenue collection was Rs 13,500 crore in 2010-11 with a growth of 26%, Mitra was confident that the figure would rise in the current fiscal. "We are looking at better revenue generation through better compliance. Revenue is already increasing," he said. He would disclose the revenue target while presenting the budget. He said that he would be spelling out the revenue target while presenting the budget.

The minister said long-term sustainable reforms can alone help the state exchequer since this government was against imposing new taxes.

Mitra said revenue would increase with increased tax compliance if the tax base is wide enough. However, he refused to state the percentage of revenue growth. He felt it will take some time to make it popular among businessmen. Mitra cited an ADB report to drive home the point that tax collection is not bad in Bengal.

He said that new e-governance steps were taken to stop harassment of businessmen. Mitra said, "Gradually, tax compliance will increase. We don't want businessmen to be harassed. The new online way bill will be simple. Now, a single document will replace the current two part way bill. No physical document will be required from now. Hence, there will be no delay and chances of loss or misplacement will not happen. Traders can generate and print their own way bill and need not send it physically."

Even those who want to inform about tax evasion can do so online. "Once information on tax evasion is registered, the informer will get an acknowledgement slip and his identity will remain secret. The information will be verified by the commercial tax commissioner."

Mitra further said, "Often, there are cases of harassment by government officials. Traders can complain against this. There was no grievance redressal mechanism. But once the e-governance service becomes effective from January 24, then businessmen can lodge complaints with their identity undisclosed. Even the status of the complaints can be checked online and the commissioner of commercial tax will be probing them."

The businessmen can file online applications for an Industrial Promotion Assistance Scheme round-the-clock electronically and will get acknowledgement for it. Another trader-friendly step that Mitra announced on Friday was online sales tax deduction at source to overcome the problem of the manual system. Traders will save time by avoiding repetition. After TDS, they will receive a deduction certificate automatically.

He said e-payment under Industrial Promotion Assistance Scheme would benefit small and medium enterprises.

Source: Times of India, India,  dated 21/01/2012