However, taxpayers will still need to wait for another seven months to receive services, as Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has hinted that the actual establishment of the centers could take place only by the start of the next fiscal year.
“We need to recruit fresh manpower and also arrange all logistics services, meaning it will take more time than we originally planned,” said a source.
The government had initially planned to set up some half a dozen centers in the valley and said that they could come into operation by mid-January.
Under the new plan, which IRD has finalized with Ministry of General Administration, Ministry of Finance (MoF) has revised its previous statement and said it will set up at least 13 tax service centers in the major market sections of the Valley, through which taxpayers could enjoy web-based tax filing facility and settle their tax liability under a roof.
MoF officials said they would depute a tax officer in each of those centers. They expect each center to cater to as much as 2,000 clients, easing the taxpayers and also reduce the work load of the tax offices.
MoF has already initiated outsourcing the taxpayers´ service job to District Treasury Office (DTO) in all districts outside the Valley, mainly in the hilly and remote parts of the country where there are no tax office and taxpayers need to travel distance, spending days to file tax and settle liability.
So far, taxpayers in Solukhumbu were required to travel to Lahan in Siraha district to register and pay taxes. This costs them at least a couple of days, something which is very inconvenient for businessmen and also general taxpayers to arrange, and hence has been discouraging tax compliance.
Establishment of Taxpayers Service Unit in DTO from this year will bring special respite to the taxpayers there. With the new provision, the government also hopes to tap additional revenue, especially as the mechanism will deepen presence of revenue services at the local level.
Under its program to mark 2009/10 as Tax Compliance Year, the government has announced to extend localized tax-related services.
Through this facility and by making PAN compulsory for all income earners, the government hopes to add 200,000 new taxpayers in this fiscal year. Till 2008/09, there were only 250,000 registered taxpayers in the country.
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