| To cover tax payments of Rs 50,000 and above. |
| |
| From April 1, individual and corporate taxpayers who pay Rs 50,000 and more as tax in a single payment may have to make the payment electronically. |
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| A formal announcement to this effect from the Central Board of Direct Taxes is expected shortly, finance ministry sources confirmed. |
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| The move is expected to bring up to 3 million companies and other large tax payers under the purview of mandatory e-payment from the next fiscal year. |
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E-payments of direct taxes are currently optional, though e-filing for companies and certain categories of taxpayers is mandatory.
| THE E FACTOR |
| |
2006-07
(till Nov) |
2007-08
(till Dec) |
| Mandatory e-filing (nos) |
288388 |
657993 |
| Voluntary e-filing (nos) |
2053 |
607404 |
* Number of assessees in India stood at 31.9 million as of 2006-07
Mandatory e-filing of returns:
* For companies since 2006-07
* For others (audited under Sec 44AB of the IT Act, 1961) from 2007-08 | |
| |
| Such payments accounted for less than one per cent of net direct tax payments of Rs 2,30,090 crore in 2006-07. |
| |
| The move is being made at the behest of Finance Minister P Chidambaram, sources at North Block told Business Standard. |
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| However, filing electronic returns is likely to continue to be optional for individual taxpayers. |
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| Mandatory e-filing of returns was first introduced in 2006-07 for corporations and then extended to cover partnership firms, businesses and professionals whose accounts are statutorily audited in 2007-08. |
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| Tax assessees can pay taxes online through their internet banking accounts at 17 designated banks including the State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank. |
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| Seven more public and private sector banks have expressed their willingness to join the e-payment system. |
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| Sources added that mandatory e-payment of taxes will boost the CBDTs effort to capture data and mine it better to check evasion and fraudulent claims. |
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| It will also help provide better services to taxpayers to boost direct tax collections, which are currently growing at over 42 per cent. |
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| Significantly, e-filing returns by individual taxpayers, for whom it is optional, shot up sharply in 2007-08. |
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| The number could go up significantly if they are allowed to do so through credit or debit cards, said a tax expert. |
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| The 700,000 to 800,000 new taxpayers that join the taxpayer base are internet savvy and may prefer to pay taxes and file returns online, the expert added. |
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| On the indirect taxes side, electronic payment of service tax is mandatory for assessees who paid service tax of Rs 50 lakh or above in 2006-07. |
| |
| Similarly, excise assessees making tax payment in excess of Rs 50 lakh have to pay electronically from April 1 this fiscal. |
