CBEC is shedding its adversarial image, says survey

A CBEC-commissioned survey has found a majority 72 per cent believing that the indirect tax wing of the government is becoming "liberal and friendly" to taxpayers, but "much needs to be done" for it to be seen as "less adversarial".
"In the wake of widespread allegations of tax terrorism, which has most often been cited as a barrier to entry of foreign investment in manufacturing, the survey sought an opinion on whether the CBEC administration was becoming less adversarial.
"32 per cent of the respondents answered in the affirmative, which is indicative of an improving trend but does show that much needs to be done," the Finance Ministry today said while announcing results of the survey.

However, it did not disclose the response of the remaining 68 per cent respondents to this question.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) had asked industry body FICCI to conduct a tax payers' survey to get a feedback on ground-level impact of reforms undertaken over the last two years. FICCI outsourced the survey to KPMG and they jointly reached out to 40,000-45,000 respondents across India.
According to the survey, 45 per cent respondents saw an "attitudinal change" in senior functionaries (Commissioner and above) and 51 per cent noted improvement at the level of inspectors and above.

"This should come as a heartening news for India Inc as it is the inspector raj which is considered as the most stubborn stumbling block to improving the tax environment," the ministry said.

The ministry further listed implementation of the Customs single-window project on April 1, 2016, as the most outstanding achievement of CBEC.
The survey put out a key question -- Do you feel a perceptible change in policies of the CBEC by way of becoming liberal and friendly to the taxpayer? To this, 72 per cent said 'yes'.
Responses on sectoral reforms, including refunds, too got a thumbs-up, the ministry said.
Many took note of reforms in transfer pricing in Customs where 89 per cent indicated improvements. Ninety-two per cent of the respondents have acknowledged CBEC's success in simplification of Customs and excise business processes.

The questionnaire was built around themes such as
interaction experience with senior and junior functionaries of the CBEC, dispute resolution, IT-enabled services and refund claims.
In terms of business demographics, respondents from Maharashtra outnumbered all other states.
As much as 46 per cent respondents hailed from the service industry, 39 per cent from manufacturing and 15 per cent from the trading community.
"This trend reveals the importance that service tax has acquired over the years, broadening the tax payer base and accounting for Rs 2,11,456 crore, which is 26 per cent of the indirect tax revenue," the ministry said.
Reeling off more such measures, the ministry said CBEC's team has evolved a unique methodology to solve problems faced by the trading community by creating a WhatsApp group for continuously receiving feedback and disseminating solutions.

FICCI and KPMG have handed the CBEC a wish-list of respondents, which includes infusing attitudinal changes, focusing on tax evaders, simplifying procedures, fast-tracking adjudication, expediting refunds, and improving the website and IT platform.
"Seventy-six per cent respondents found improvement in Customs clearance process. For a highly IT-driven department, it was also very heartening to note that 75 per cent of the respondents were satisfied by the IT-enabled services," the ministry added.