ST-3 What Should I do now? A frustrated Assessee asks
WE got this mail from an assessee today morning:
I regret to state that I have uploaded my return for July-Septemebr, 2012 on 26-03-2013 and was rejected twice on the same date. I called ACES help desk and was told that there were some problems in the system. I was told to upload it again and was told that it will now not be rejected. So, I uploaded the return third time on 26-3-13 and was following up regularly to get status as "Filed". I was given different dates whereby I was told that the status 'filed' would be available on 01-04-2013 then on 03-04-2013 and then in 'few days'. Due to this vague term of 'few days', I was daily checking the status and till 10-04-2013, the status was 'uploaded'. However, to my shock, when I checked it today morning on 11-4-13, it shows that the return is rejected.
I feel that the Government is taking honest taxpayers for a ride. First of all, though it was known to the Government that it is introducing Negative List based service taxation when budget was presented on 16-03-2012, it had not been able to design and make available the form of service tax return for more than one year. It made available the utility only on 25-03-2013 i. e. after more than a year. This utility appears to be faulty. It was modified perhaps on 29-03-2013 without informing anyone. It was modified on 09-04-2013 and no circular or notice was issued. If an honest taxpayer fails to file his return late by a day, he is paying late fee or penalty. However, due to problems at the end of Government machinery, any number of blunders goes unpunished. This is gross injustice to the subject of this country. By such behaviour, Government is making life miserable for honest taxpayers and keeps them in tension and stress without any fault on their part. At the same time, it is failing in providing precise and correct information about the exact date on which the status of return will be shown as 'filed" and makes vague assertions like "few days". It is high time that the Government machinery becomes accountable and be compassionate to the woes of the honest tax payers failing which they will shy away from doing businesses. Because of inefficiency or inadequacy of Government machinery, the subject is made to suffer. There are taxpayers who were ready to file their returns for period ended 30-09-2012 by 01-10-2012 but they were helpless without the utility made available to them. Relevant date for calculating limitation period for issuing show cause notice is the date of filing of return. By not providing the facility to file returns on time, Government is extending limitation period without any fault on the part of the taxpayers. ACES office had called me on telephone and informed me that the status "filed" will be available on 01-04-2013 for my return. However, today, without any intimation to me, the return is rejected. I attach the screen shot of the status of my return as rejected (not shown here). Kindly guide me immediately about:
1. What I should do now? Am I required to file return again? If yes, will my date of filing be treated as 26-03-2013 as I had already filed it on 26-3-2013?
2. What should other taxpayers do for filing their returns? Should they file their returns now or you are still testing your software?
I look forward to your immediate response.