Ahmedabadis evade tax e-returns route

 The scheme was launched by the Union finance minister, Jaswant Singh, on August 8. The scheme is meant for salaried taxpayers in the four metropolitan cities along with Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

 The scheme at present envisages filing of returns through authorised intermediaries, but will be enhanced in the future to enable direct filing of returns through Internet under digital signatures.

 In Ahmedabad, the authorised intermediaries for receiving tax returns are HDFC Bank at Mithakhali, Navrangpura, Bharat Overseas Bank at C G Road and Indian Overseas Bank at Ashram Road.

 The I-T department's aim is to provide paperless filing for the maximum number of taxpayers. In the past 10 days, there has not been a single taxpayer who has availed of the e-return scheme. There are around 1.80 lakh persons in Ahmedabad who are eligible to avail of the scheme.

 Although it is early days, several reasons could be listed out for the lukewarm response to the scheme.

 First, people are still not comfortable with the idea of filing returns through an intermediary and the taxpayer has to present documents to the intermediary instead of the I-T department.

 Moreover, the process is long drawn although it promises to be an