Some businessmen are facing a tough time filing their VAT returns online as they are not very techno-savvy, with some of them not even knowing how to create their email accounts. Others feel it is a blessing in disguise as due to e-filing, they would at least be able to learn and access internet on their own.

On the last date for filing of VAT returns, some found it difficult to secure their password and access their emails while others were seen struggling with computers to learn how to create an online identity so that they could file their VAT returns without paying any fine. Instructions from excise department have made online filing of VAT returns compulsory for units affecting inter-state sales.

Knitwear club members have expressed that accountants engaged by them for guidance or submission of online returns are not fully informed and updated and hence lack competence. In absence of expertise, units covered under the new system should not be expected to embrace it so early and easily.

Ajay Sood of Sood quality foods said that in his business, he usually does not need the internet facility. Though he did face difficulty in creating an id online, at the end of the day, e-filing has opened new vistas for him as he would now be able to learn nuances of and access the internet, which would prove fruitful in the coming years.

Echoing Soods view, Vipin, a spare parts dealer, said online filing of VAT returns is a bit difficult as in his lifetime, he has not accessed the computer. He added that being a first-timer, things are difficult, but when he would be filing VAT the next time, he would not need anybodys help.