Adieu VCES
THE Service Tax Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme ends today. The Finance Secretary informs that VCES offices will remain open till midnight today; maybe they should offer a midnight New Year dinner to those who file their declarations around midnight. The Service Tax offices are open till midnight, but banks are not. So how to pay the VCES after closure of bank? The Finance Secretary says that Commissioners have been instructed to accept demand drafts/ pay orders - but these are also issued by banks only during working hours. He should have directed them to accept cheques also on the last day.
Even e-payments made after 8 pm are accounted as next working day's receipt by banks. So, how can one meet the deadline of 31.12.2013? And as per rule 3 of the ST VCER, 2013 any person who wishes to make a declaration should get himself registered under rule 4 of STR, 1994. Can an evader wishing to file VCES Form-1 today go through this registration formality with consummate ease?
There is no possibility of extending the Scheme, as the last date in VCES is a part of the Finance Act passed by Parliament and only Parliament can change the date. Of course, the President could have issued an ordinance, but that is too complicated and politically incorrect. But perhaps they could have used Section 113 (Power to remove difficulties) to issue an order extending the Scheme.
Anyway the Government has collected about Rs. 5500 Crores and some more will come today - not big money, but certainly not bad - it doesn't hurt to get a little extra revenue. It could have been much higher if there was a little more planning and if the staff understood the spirit of the Scheme and worked for its success.
We in TIOL are proud that we have been able to contribute to the success of the Scheme by extensive coverage and effective support.
We need another amnesty scheme for all those mountains of pending cases - well that should be left to the new Finance Minister.
Well, you still have a few hours left - rush to the Service Tax offices and file those declarations - from tomorrow, the Department is going to be hyperactive - at least that is what they threaten.
Stop Press : Soon after we hosted the DDT, we were informed by the Commissioner (Service Tax) in the CBEC that e-payment facility has been extended till midnight; that suitable instructions have been issued by the RBI.