ACES – Still a Nightmare?

By Vijay Kumar

IT was only yesterday that we made some good remarks about the managers of the ACES and we find that actual users and Departmental Officers have a lot of problems which need to be solved urgently.

Even with regard to the notification referred to above, Nityananda and Divya point out that the ST-3 return in ACES does not recognise Service Tax rates of Rs. 100/- and Rs. 500/- as fixed by Notification No. 26/2010. So the Airlines are not able to file their returns. There is a similar problem regarding Research and Development Cess.

Why does this happen? Simple – Stupid Ego!!!. The one who makes the law – the notifications, thinks he is the ultimate authority and once he issues a notification, he expects the rest of the world to follow it as the GOSPEL. They have only contempt for the officers working in other sections. And this contempt is mutual. The officers who work in the electronic sections do not bother to read the notifications and update their software accordingly.

The result – ultimately the assessee suffers!