PAN campaign to start with prez today

The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) will begin distributing Public Account Numbers (PAN) from Monday starting with President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav. "Vice President Parmananda Jha, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and cabinet ministers are also scheduled to receive their PAN on Monday," said Shanta Bahadur Shrestha, IRD director general. "The purpose of starting with the president is to show that nobody who earns a taxable income is outside the government's tax net," he said.

The government plans to bring all potential taxpayers under the tax net by giving them a PAN as per the policy included in this fiscal year's budget announcement. Meanwhile, the IRD is also making arrangements to allow small taxpayers to pay their taxes through the internet beginning from Monday. "Those earning up to Rs. 150,000 annually and traders with a turnover of up to Rs. 1.5 million may pay taxes online," Shrestha said. Those who have to pay taxes for the last fiscal year can do so through the net.

The government has defined individuals earning up to Rs. 200,000 and those doing business of up to Rs. 2 million as small taxpayers. "They will be able to pay their taxes through the internet from next year," Shrestha said. According to the IRD, small taxpayers account for 65 percent of the overall number of taxpayers. "We expect at least 50 percent of the taxpayers to pay their taxes through the net," Shrestha said. The IRD expects that paying taxes online will reduce incidents of corruption on the part of tax officials. Moreover, the tax offices will not be inundated with crowds coming to file their tax returns. However, the IRD is not providing this facility to big taxpayers this year. "As more details need to be included in the software, we are not going to provide this facility to big taxpayers immediately," Shrestha said.
Source: Kantipur