Where the Taxpayer is treated with respect
THE Kakinada Central Excise Commissionerate has adopted several best practices towards Taxpayer Education; Image Building; Effective use of Technology and Community Service. The writing on the wall in this image of a Divisional Office reads as,
Welcome to dear taxpayers who are partners in the progress of the Nation.
The Commissionerate has conducted a series of sessions for the benefit of tax payers like awareness sessions on basic provisions of service tax for lay businessmen and small factories; giving clarity on legal and procedural nuances for assessees and sessions for refund-claiming SEZ's for expeditious clearance of claims.
Website name, Address, fax, etc. of each office in the commissionerate were added on Google map for easy identification and information of assessees.
The Commissionerate is making effective use of bulk SMS to reach out to taxpayers and also for quick communication among the 170 odd officers and staff in the Commissionerate. NIC's free bulk SMS application ‘Quick SMS' is being used for this purpose.
Combining data from ACES, NSDL & EDW, a comprehensive profile of assessees was created reg. their payment & return-filing behaviour.
The communications to assessees range from conveying greetings on account of Central Excise Day to alerts regarding non-filing of returns, non-payment of taxes for a particular month etc. Responding to these SMSs, there was improved compliance on the front of return filing and Rs. 10 Lakhs was paid by an assessee in response to the SMS.
The Commissionerate has launched Project e-Sampark - standardized official communication through website, e-mail & SMS in the Commissionerate. One of the basic principles emphasized in the Standing Order issued by the Commissionerate is, e-mail shall be the default mode of official communication in the Commissionerate. Once an e-mail is sent from an official e-mail account to another official e-mail account, it shall not be sent again by post or fax.
This kind of offices will command respect from the assessees and should be replicated all over the country.