Chartered Accountants should act as a bridge between assessees and authorities, said Sheila Sangwan, special secretary, Central Board of Excise and Customs, Delhi.
Addressing a seminar on the recently launched Service Tax Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme (VCES) 2013’ on Saturday, she requested the traders to come forward to avail of the scheme while explaining the features of the scheme.
VCES, an amnesty scheme, has come into effect from May 10, 2013 to motivate stop-filters, non-filters and non-registrants to pay their tax dues pertaining to the period October 2007 to December 2012, without interest, penalty or other legal proceedings. It has to be exercised on or before December 31, 2013. Service tax under scheme can be paid in two installments, 50 per cent before Dec 31, 2013 and balance before June 30, 2014, she said.
She suggested that the local Central Excise and Service Tax Commissionerate operate a help desk for at least an hour every day and clarify queries from traders on details of the scheme.
There should be Tamil translations of the booklet containing highlights of the scheme which has been brought out in English. It will help assessees know highlights of the scheme, she added.