E-filing of central excise, service tax returns obligatory from Oct 1

20 Sep 2011 Evaluate

To kick start the much-awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2012-13, the finance ministry has made it obligatory for taxpayers to file their central excise and service tax returns electronically from October 1, 2011. E-filing through the Centre’s online tax payment application ACES (Automation of Central Excise and Service Tax) will be a must not only for returns due after October 1, but also for returns of past periods which have not been filed yet or are to be revised.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said the returns would have to be filed electronically by all assesses, including export-oriented units, small-scale industries or those availing of certain exemptions, irrespective of the duty paid by them in the preceding financial year. The taxpayers are also suppose to file various other documents on the electronic mode, such as the annual financial information statement and the annual installed capacity statement.

The government is taking every step to make the changeover to GST smooth. Next financial year is set as the target to introduce the indirect tax regime, which will include most of the taxes levied by the Centre and the States on sale of goods and supply of services. The government on the other hand wants to strengthen its information technology (IT) backbone before switching to GST. It is designing a single portal for registration, filing returns and payment of taxes under GST. The system, called GST-N, will automatically separate the data that needs to go to the state system.

Tax payments will be done through Reserve Bank of India clearing accounts for States and the Centre. A pilot project is being carried out in 11 states. Before the introduction of GST, states are expected to move to the IT platform. The new platform would provide common PAN-based taxpayer identification, a common return, and a common challan for tax payment.

This platform will have the facility of reconciliation of transaction across different taxes - value added tax, income tax and central excise resulting in noticing tax evasion and plugging loopholes. On the other hand, the report of a task force in business processes relating to GST will be displayed in the public domain by the end of this month for discussion. The task force, set up to put together legislation on GST, has already presented an interim report.

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