Govt fixes holes in CT dept to shore up revenue

Govt fixes holes in CT dept to shore up revenue
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With an aim to increase revenues by plugging loopholes at all levels during tax collections, the State government has overhauled the entire Commercial Taxes department by creating new wings, including State Task Force, Mobile teams and Economic Intelligence Units (EIUs).  

Hyderabad: With an aim to increase revenues by plugging loopholes at all levels during tax collections, the State government has overhauled the entire Commercial Taxes department by creating new wings, including State Task Force, Mobile teams and Economic Intelligence Units (EIUs).

Based on the recommendations made by the State Principal Secretary to Commercial Taxes Somesh Kumar recently, the government gave its nod to revamp the entire department. Under the new structure, the total number of circles have been increased to 100 from the existing 91 and the Large Tax Units (LTU) have been converted into Strategic Tax Units (STUs) in the 12 existing divisions. Each STU will have at least 50 large tax payers, who contribute 50 per cent of the total revenues in every division.

Top officials from the department said that the objective behind increasing the circles was to tighten vigilance on tax evasion and also reduce burden on the officials working in the busy commercial areas.

For instance, a bunch of officials were monitoring the tax collections covering more than 10,000 commercial establishments in Madhapur circle. With heavy work load, the officials failed to pay more attention to tax collections. Now, the same circle has been divided into five ensuring strict surveillance and also timely collection of the taxes. The other new circles have been created in Asifabad, Sircilla, Wanaparthy and Sangareddy.

Officials said that the role of the EIU was to analyse the data collected from the big tax payers and find, if any, tax evasions by the firms by submitting fake documents or through other illegal means. The EIUs will comprise tax experts, charted accountants and others.

The task force will conduct regular searches and monitor whether the officials were performing their duties strictly in Hyderabad or not.

On tip offs, the forces will also conduct raids on the tax evaders. Mobile teams will roam the State and keep an eye on the commercial establishments and their trade practices. Somesh Kumar said that the revamping of the entire department would help increasing revenues by at least 10 to 15 per cent initially. In future, the outcome would be phenomenal, he said, adding that the total tax payers in the State were 2.10 lakh and the numbers would be increased once the new circles started functioning.

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