FM needs to 'sell' Scheme to his own officers before he gets the assessees
AS the VCES is in its last twenty days apprehensive assessees are hesitant to enter the hallowed portals of the Service Tax offices for fear of future consequences. And the Service Tax Department officers totally cut off from the vision and mission of their Finance minister are in no mood to encourage - they believe more in enforcement, adjudication, recovery, coercive action etc. Certainly not voluntary compliance! The above objections that have reached the Board (and there are many which are not allowed to reach the Board) prove that the officers are determined to defeat the scheme.
These officers are asking declarants to file ST-3 return for five years, income tax returns for the same period and a host of other documents to accept the declarations. And it is heard that some corrupt officers have opened their own versions of the VCES. “Why to pay so much under VCES - pay us ten percent and forget - we will take care of you”, some VCES officers tell the prospective declarants.
The FM should seriously consider handing over the entire Scheme to the Postal Department. Let the VCES-1 be filed in post offices and let the post offices collect the amounts payable under the Scheme and let the post offices issue the acknowledgements and final payment certificates. Give a firm guarantee that the assessees will not be further investigated on the issue and period covered under the Scheme. The Post offices should be strictly barred from revealing the identity of the declarants to the Service Tax Department.