Free tax preparers for small traders

Self employed and small businessmen with a total income of less than Rs 3 lakh per annum will be able to use the services of "Tax Return Preparers" free of cost for three years.

As per the outline of the scheme being finalised by the Finance Ministry, tax prepares will be allowed to retain 3 per cent, 2 per cent and 1 per cent of the tax collected from the taxpayer, respectively, during the first three years of the scheme.

While no date has been finalised so far for operationalisation of the scheme, the eligibility for tax preparers would be restricted only to law and commerce graduates.

The ministry is hoping to employ 10,000 graduates as tax preparers in the first year of the scheme when it would be run as a pilot project. The graduates will have to qualify an entrance test before being given training for the job.

The ministry is in the process of setting up a "resource centre" in Delhi which will be a separate directorate, headed by a commissioner.