Special tax scheme sees encouraging participation
KATHMANDU, DEC 27 -
As many as 11,462 private institutions, cooperatives and individuals have so far paid tax to the government under a special scheme that offers a certain tax exemption.
Officials at the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) said that they were yet to calculate the exact amount the government received under the scheme due to ongoing software upgradation process.
The Financial Ordinance 2013 has offered different levels of tax exemptions to different types of tax payers, provided they paid outstanding tax es within mid-January 2014. Particularly small traders with transition less than Rs 2 million a year, who were facing problems of mismatch in tax records, were the major beneficiaries of the facility. A total of small 10,013 traders out of 11,462 participating in the scheme utilised this facility, according to IRD.
The government introduced the provision after several complaints about the information mismatch.
Under programme, traders have been asked to pay income tax for fiscal year 2010-11 and 2011-12 within mid-January 2014 to get the exemption in tax , fee and interest.
According to IRD, a total of 662 firms paid Value Added Tax (VAT).
The financial ordinance has also given mid-January 2014 deadline to pay outstanding VAT for fiscal year 2011-12 and previous years along with tax details to get exemption in fine, additional fee and interest. Professionals such as doctors, lawyers and engineers failing to pay income tax in time have also utilised the facility.
The ordinance has told professionals, who are liable to pay tax es but have not acquired the Personal Account Number (PAN) and have failed to pay income tax until fiscal year 2011-12, to pay the tax es for fiscal year 2010-11 and fiscal year 2011-12 within mid-January 2014. If they do so, they will be exempted from paying income tax es for previous fiscal years, fee and interest.
A total of 457 professionals have so far benefited from this facility, according to the IRD. A total of 102 media houses and journalists also participated in the scheme. Media houses or journalists paying income tax for fiscal year 2011-12 and acquiring PAN have been exempted from income tax for previous years, fee and interest, according to the ordinance.
Similarly, 228 cooperatives received benefits under the scheme. Cooperatives having paid income tax for fiscal year 2010-11 and 2011-12 are exempted from income tax , fee and interest of earlier years, as per the ordinance.
IRD Deputy Director General Ram Mani Duwadi said the department does not have any specific target of revenue collection from this initiative. “The main motive is to bring more and more tax payers under the tax net,” he said.
(Source: The Kathmandu Post)
