India - Haryana;Tax records to be computerised

Trial run of online filing from December 8

The Excise and Taxation Department of Haryana has decided to go ahead with the computerisation of its tax records. The department has chalked out an expenditure plan of about Rs 60 crore to be spent over five years to computerise the records.

According to sources, 75 per cent of the total expenditure will be borne by the Government of India and 25 per cent by the state government.

The final approval from the Central government is, however, still awaited. "We have already got the approval from the Chief Minister to go ahead with the plan. State funds will be utilised first for the project and we will seek funds from the Central government later," A K Singh, Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Haryana said.

"Computerisation of old tax records will be a challenge and about Rs 10 crore have been earmarked for that. We expect to release the advertisement for hiring consultants by January-end. Then the consultants will hire the vendor to implement the project, which in turn will provide the hardware, software, hire people and run the project for five years," Singh explained, adding, "It is estimated that over 325 people will be required to computerise the records of all districts. The vendor will have to complete the process of computerization within 15 months of being awarded the contract."

But keeping in mind the ongoing recession in the economy, department officials believe the cost of the project will come down. "We may revise the cost of the project if need be," an official said.

The trial run will be held on December 8 and people will be able to file their quarterly returns online whereas annual return will have to be given as a hard copy.

The project is being implemented by NIC, HARTRON and the Excise and Taxation department.

The department is also making efforts to recover its long overdue arrears of about Rs 1,500 crore. Singh said, "We are tightening the noose around erring sectors, including iron, cement and stone-crushing. The entire mining sector should ideally contribute around Rs 90 crore but we get collections of only Rs 35 crore. But after scrutinizing the process we are expecting the revenue from mining to go upto Rs 70 crore this year."

The department also plans to request the CM to increase the tax on diesel back to 12 per cent from the current 8.8 cent in the wake of Rs 300 crore losses in revenue from petroleum sector, he revealed