BSP, the flagship unit of the government-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), filed the first ever online tax returns of Rs.100,001 to the Chhattisgarh government here Monday.
BSP is India's highest profit making steel unit in the public sector.
Leaving behind IT states Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Chhattisgarh is the first state to have launched online value added tax (VAT), sales tax and entry tax returns facility for trade and industry sectors.
Singh claimed that the online e-returns facility would make filing of tax returns by industrial houses hassle free, as the government's website for the purpose "has user friendly tools and strict security features, including digital signature".
"The Chhattisgarh government will organise awareness programmes for trade and industry sector representatives to motivate them to switch over to e-returns and e-challan rather than going through the time-consuming traditional tax filing system," an official release said.
The state's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government expects that 60 percent of the tax revenue of its total revenue receipts would be received online by the end of the current fiscal year.
The Chhattisgarh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) and the local chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) described the online e-returns and e-challan facility as the "best move to win over industrial houses and present a model example for other states to follow".
The facilities are part of the state's e-governance initiative, said the release, adding that it would soon be extended to mining, excise, transport and other key sectors.
Quelle/Source: New Kerala, 11.10.2006
