The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has entered into a agreement with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI) and the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) to help tax-payers assess their tax with ease.

To achieve the aim, after due certification from CBEC, the three institutes would set up facilitation centres at points called certified facilitation centre (CFC). This was informed by BR Tripathi, chief commissioner, Central Excise and  Service Tax, Lucknow zone, who addressed media here on Tuesday.

"This will help tax-payers, who have little understanding and access to information technology to make use of ACES (Automation in Customs, Excise and Service Tax) facility," he said. To note, through the ACES taxpayers can get registered, file their returns and interact with the department online.

He added that CFCs would work on behalf of CBEC and enable a tax-payer take up tasks such as registration, e-filing of returns, filing of refund claims, digitalisation of documents, filing applications and checking their status among others. The facility, however, comes with a price tag and an assessee will have to pay a nominal fees for getting the job done.