Mitra at the news conference at Writers’ on Friday

Calcutta, Jan. 20: Finance minister Amit Mitra today unveiled a five-point action plan to facilitate traders’ interface with the commercial taxes directorate.

Announcing the second phase of e-governance — the government had unveiled a slew of measures in July last year — Mitra said the move would improve compliance.

“An Asian Development Bank study had clearly established that compliance was a problem in Bengal and that’s why we are making these attempts to improve compliance,” the minister said.

The measures announced today, which will come into effect from January 24, includes the following:

E-grievance monitoring: the directorate will set up a dedicated unit to electronically receive and monitor grievances

Online application under the industrial promotion assistance scheme: the directorate will accept applications seeking industrial promotion assistance online

Online sales tax and VAT deduction at source: the directorate has created a system to deduct tax online and issue dematerialised certificates

Simplification of e-way bill: the directorate will shift to a single document in place of the two-part waybill system

Simplifying and assuring confidentiality in filing complaints on tax evasion: the directorate has created an online system to ensure confidentiality regarding information on tax evasion. A commissioner will look into the complaints.

“All these measures are our attempt to make the system hassle-free for the traders,” Mitra said.

According to him, the commercial taxes directorate had witnessed significant improvement in compliance after the government launched the first phase of the e-governance initiative from August 1.

Mitra, however, refused to share any numbers to establish his claim of higher compliance through the shift to the online system.

“We had introduced the system in August…. Only a few months have passed and the people have just started understanding the benefits of the new system,” the minister said. Mitra also skirted questions on whether the e-governance initiatives would help him reach the target of a 31.4 per cent hike in revenue receipts in this fiscal.