Come to LTUs - FM invites 582 top corporates
Launching the road show for LTUs, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the revenue department would consider expanding the eligibility criteria for large tax-payer units (LTUs), instead of confining it to entities paying over Rs 5 crore excise and assessed for income tax in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore. He invited 582 top corporates to join the scheme. The LTUs would help avoid litigation as senior officers with assessment expertise would be deputed at the centres which would offer all facilities for payment of corporation tax, excise, customs and service tax. “Less dispute means greater compliance. The assessment must be of high quality so that disputes are less. What is the use of assessing if the demand goes into a dispute?” he said.
The FM assured that LTUs will be modern offices and assessment and payment will be through electronic media. Senior officials will assist and the cost of compliance will also come down. Does he know what happened to the “help centres” started with great fan fare? Nobody knows where they are.
Incidentally the LTUs are functioning in Pakistan for the last four years. The major functions of a Pakistani LTU are to :-
assist taxpayers through technical advice and taxpayer services;
conduct professionally competent audit ;
assessment of cases;
collection of revenue ;
sanctioning and monitoring of refunds/arrears;
defence of cases under litigation , appellate tribunal, superior courts and other forums .
Recently a special taxation bench was constituted in the Pakistan Supreme Court to deal with cases relating to the Central Board of Revenue. In Pakistan, officers working in the LTUs and they have another concept called MTUs get a higher salary than their colleagues in the general sections. Most of the employees outside the LTU/MTU sector are surplus and are being trained for other jobs. What is going to happen in India? One thing is sure; all those promotions were a waste!