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Kathmandu,Saturday January 22, 2000 Magh 08th, 2056.
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KTPSC makes
modest progress
-By Dinesh
Wagle
KATHMANDU,
Jan 21- Kathmandu Tax Payers Service Centre (KTPSC), established about two months back
with an aim to integrate tax related information and to provide counseling to the tax
payers, has made modest achievements so far.
When KTPSC
came into effect from November 17, 1999 it was planned to connect the KTPSC with all
customs and revenue offices in the Kathmandu valley. After two months of the establishment
of KTPSC, the computer networking plan has not come into effect.
The computer
networking plan intends to connect the centre with all 9 tax offices, 3 Value Added Tax
(VAT) offices, a custom office at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and 3
departments of VAT, Income Tax and Custom, all in the Kathmandu valley.
“Computer
networking should be made as soon as possible,” says Professor Chandra Mani
Adhikari,
a Tax Officer at KTPSC. The establishment of the KTPSC will be futile if the networking is
not made, he says. It is expected that the network would be set up by the end of this
current fiscal year. After connecting the valley with network, it has planned to expand
the network throughout the country.
The main
objective of the centre is to collect information about the situation of tax in the
country. It had aimed at providing tax-related information not only to all tax offices in
Kathmandu Valley but also to the taxpayers. Due to delay in the establishment of the
computer network, the objective is not being realised.
The centre
has provided the Permanent Account Number (PAN) card to 1,600 taxpayers up to now. Other
200 are in the waiting list. Majority of the taxpayers receiving PAN are from Pashmina
business. “This shows that Pashmina industries are increasing”, says
Adhikari.
Pashmina is one of the exportable items on the rise.
The centre
had planned to provide PAN to three categories of taxpayers
: sole proprietors, tax withholding agents, private limited
companies and government offices. None of the government enterprises
except for Nepal Telecommunications Corporation (NTC) has received PAN.
It is
learned that they haven’t applied for PAN. The
distribution of PAN will be expanded in the sector of house rent, salary etc. by the next
year. The card serves to the taxpayers as the single registration for all types of tax
assessment and will remain with the taxpayers for lifetime. The centre has not made
compulsory to receive PAN for them who already
have Income Tax Registration (ITR) card. “We are trying to make PAN compulsory for
all. Before this, we have to make the centre more
efficient than it is now.” says Vidayadhar Mallik, Director General
at the Income Tax Department (ITD).
The ITD is
launching a publicity campaign about PAN very soon. “The staff quota at the centre is
insufficient”, Mallik says. The department is providing training to 26 staff of other
tax office for the purpose of the centre, he says.
The centre
is facing problems with those holding Income Tax Registration
Certificate (ITRC). Providing PAN card replacing the old
ITRC makes the process quite lengthy, he says.
There are
about 50,000 ITRC holders in the valley. It
is said that many of the companies are not interested in receiving PAN for the sake of
paying tax to the government. “They are obtaining this just because if they wanted to
start a business or some contracts. PAN is compulsory to have PAN for doing a business”,
says an official at the centre.
Some foreign companies from Malaysia and India have also received PAN
card from the Centre.
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