Excise, service tax network yet to be rolled out

Automation of Central Excise and Service Tax (ACES) project is currently on hold as the required hardware is not in place.

The software is almost ready and its pilot project, EASIEST, is currently being used in Chennai.

ACES software developed at a cost of Rs 5 lakh was ready to be implemented but its server was not ready, informed an official of Director General of Systems and Data Management.

ACES, a centralised online system, will cover registration, e-filing and e-payment of customs, excise and service tax across the country.

A single server in Delhi will control all processes of registration, filing returns, payments and other services all over India, he informed.

"Once the server is ready with its back-up plan, the department will put the software online which will not take more than a couple of months," said the official.

He said initially users could opt the manual way of registration, filing and payments but after six months of its introduction, all process will be done online.

"This would be mandatory for all. At initial stage, our officers will key in the data of the transactions done manually to keep the record of all transactions," he said.

Though currently in the online e-filing and e-payment system, the e-payment is proving to be failure in several states.

"All banks who are accepting the indirect taxes including customs, excise and service tax will accept the payment online where they will create their own payment gateway to accept the amount," he said.

Once the project is implemented all files will transfer from screen to screen within a few seconds instead of transferring files from table to table which took several days or sometimes even months, he added.

Talking about small and medium entrepreneur's conveniences, the official said that they will have opt online filing and payment.

"ACES will reduce time and will improve the quality of service for tax payers," he said.