First in the country: UP commercial tax dept to begin e-courts for big tax payers

Uttar Pradesh will become the first state in the country to begin e-hearing in commercial tax

Here comes good news for the state’s corporate dealers. Very soon, they will find themselves free from the rigmarole of rushing to the commercial tax department to reply to notices at each stage of tax assessment.

The first initiative of its kind in the country, the Uttar Pradesh commercial tax department is going to begin a system of electronic court hearing (e-courts) for big tax payers also called corporate dealers. (Representative image)

Probably the first initiative of its kind in the country, the Uttar Pradesh commercial tax department is going to begin a system of electronic court hearing (e-courts) for big tax payers also called corporate dealers. A presentation is slated to be made on the proposed launch of e-courts at a departmental meeting to be chaired by Chauhan here on Monday.

“We are trying to begin e-court service for corporate dealers by the month-end so that they don’t need to visit our offices for issues related to the tax assessment,” commercial tax commissioner Kamini Ratan Chauhan said.

Explaining the procedure, she said, “Under the e-court system, a dealer will be issued tax assessment notices on his registered e-mail id and also sent an alert SMS on the registered cell number, asking him to send back documents like balance sheets, invoices, bills etc. The assessing officer will examine the documents and will ask for further clarifications if any and pass a final order which will be sent to the dealer to his e-mail.” The dealer, she said, would not be called to the office at any stage.

Assessment under GST means the declaration of tax liability. Dealers enjoy the facility of self-assessment too and they can assess the taxes payable by them and furnish returns for each period accordingly.

However, sometimes, a tax officer can scrutinise the returns to verify its correctness and ask for explanations on any discrepancies noticed in the returns. The assessing officer can also make summary assessment when he comes across sufficient grounds to believe any delay in showing a tax liability can harm the interest of revenue and can pass an order accordingly.

Currently, dealers have to go personally or through their representatives to the assessing authorities to offer explanations and submit documents in their defence.

Chauhan said that UP will become the first state in the country to begin e-hearing in commercial tax. The department, she said, would provide login in IDs to dealers as well as to assessment officers. The e-hearing will begin in all 21 offices under which the corporate dealers come.

In UP, there are around 3,000 corporate dealers that together contribute around 80% of the total GST to the state exchequer.