Technology Sabha 2008

Computerizing VAT

Vinod Advani, Assistant Commissioner - Commercial Tax, Government of Gujarat

In a state where 70% of the revenue comes from commercial taxes, computerization of VAT was essential. Explaining this project, Vinod Advani, Assistant Commissioner-Commercial Tax, Government of Gujarat gave a brief presentation. “No computerization can succeed without a proper legal framework. With this, computerization was synchronized with the framing of the VAT Act and rules and design of computer compatible VAT forms,” said Advani. Full fledged computerization began on 1st April 2006 in Gujarat. The connectivity used for this project included all 103 units, under 25 Range offices of 7 Divisions and the Head Office as well as the 8 border check posts connected through the Gujarat State Wide Area Network.

They made use of a partially decentralized architecture for this project. The connection was provided only at the time of data replication with the central server located in Ahmadabad. Giving some of the salient features of this e-Governance project, Kumar explains that in terms of hardware, every unit has 5 to 12 computers and the whole data entry and scanning process is outsourced. HP UNIX is the OS for central servers and Windows 2003 for intermediate servers; Oracle 10g database Server, and Oracle 10g Application Server are used. The DR center for the project is located at Hyderabad.

In terms of services, it offers e-returns, e-way bills, on-line application for refund, e-payments, e-statutory forms, e- registration and e-invoices. Speaking about the role and benefits of IT, he believes that computerization is one of the main reasons for the rise in the state’s revenue collections. Further, they have seen a shift from person dependency to process dependency which has resulted in drastic changes in working style and process re-engineering. With this, now they can do electronic cross checks for refund and assessment by which the number of trips or personal appearances has reduced considerably, transparency has increased and self compliance has been achieved. As part of the benefits, they can now have selection of cases for audit assessment by the system and MIS/Business Intelligence Reports can be obtained. “Despite its success, we see some of the challenges in the form of data migration and integration, data entry, storage replication, acceptance by tax payers, and capacity building,” said Advani.