The State Commercial Taxes department, which recorded 25 per cent growth rate in tax collection in the first quarter of 2010-2011, is planning to achieve a total collection of Rs. 30,000 crore during the year.
During April-June this year, the collection was Rs. 7,252 crore against Rs. 5,806 crore in the corresponding period of 2009-2010, according to V. K. Jeyakodi, Principal Secretary/Commissioner, Commercial Taxes.
The total collection during the year 2009-2010 was Rs. 24,819 crore, registering a growth rate of about 10 per cent. The revival of economy and tightening of the enforcement mechanism are among the factors that have contributed to the high growth rate.
Mr Jeyakodi is confident that the department would be able to sustain the growth rate in the subsequent quarters, considering a number of measures being taken up to improve the working of the department.
Giving an account of the steps, he says the State government had issued an order for opening the large tax payers' unit in Chennai. The unit would function under the control of a joint commissioner.
This has been done, given the fact that the top 200 dealers contribute 70 per cent of the total revenue of the department. Four divisions of Chennai, covering Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts, account for around 80 per cent of the revenue.
At present, dealers make electronic payment through the State Bank of India. The department is planning to extend the facility through four other banks.
Talking of the upgradation of information technology infrastructure in the department, he says that under the Centrally-assisted Mission Mode project, installation of additional servers and replacement of old hardware would be carried out soon.
Referring to the Tax Information Exchange System (TINXSYS), he says that this will be fully functional in the State in two months. The system, suggested by the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers, facilitates information exchange amongState Commercial Taxes Departments. This will provide effective monitoring of inter-State trade such as movement of goods sold under concessional rate of tax. Both the trading community and officials can make use of this system to verify the details of dealers and the details of statutory forms under Central Sales Tax Act.
