Mangalore: 'Aayakar Seva Kendra' Inaugurated at Income Tax Office

Media Release

Mangalore, Mar 27: The Aayakar Seva Kendra (ASK) at the income tax office located in Central Revenue Building, Attavar, was inaugurated at an impressive ceremony by K Satyanarayana, IRS, chief commissioner of income tax, Bangalore, and Cadre Controlling Authority for Karnataka and Goa region on Monday March 26.

The cenrtre was inaugurated in the presence of Dilip Kumar, IRS, chief commissioner of income tax, Panaji, who presided over the function.

Ananthakrishna, chairman, Karnataka Bank Limited inaugurated the ATM set up by the Indian Overseas Bank within the Kendra. J K Hota, chief commissioner of income tax, Bangalore, M Narendra, chairman and managing director of Indian Overseas Bank were present along with many other distinguished representatives of industry, members of the Chamber of Commerce, the Institute of Chartered Accountants, top tax payers of the region and employees of the income tax department.
 
Speaking on the occasion, Dr B S N Prasad, commissioner of income tax, Mangalore, welcomed the invitees and spoke about the various facets of the Aayakar Seva Kendra. The Kendra he said is modeled as a one-stop, computerized facility for providing in a time-bound manner all taxpayer services promised in the department’s Citizen’s Charter. It is a front office manned by well-trained and friendly income tax personnel and is equipped with state-of-the-art amenities such as information kiosk, LED TV, coffee shop, wi-fi broadband Internet, etc.
 
K Satyanarayana, IRS, chief commissioner of income tax, Bangalore lit a ceremonial lamp to mark the occasion and spoke at length on the various tax payer-friendly measures initiated by the income tax department and sought opinion and recommendations of various stakeholders for further improving the process of service delivery.
 
M Narendra lauded the efforts of the income tax department in reaching out and providing hassle free customer related service to all tax payers. He emphasized the installation of the Bank’s ATM in the Aayakar Seva Kendra would complement the efforts of the department to ‘Touch hearts and Spread Smiles’.
 
Ananthakrishna outlined the changing face of the department and interpreted the word ASK to mean attitude of the department to help, Skill to solve problem and Knowledge to understand problem.
 
Dilip Kumar dedicated the facility to the tax payers of the region. He emphasized on the fact that the department was leaving no stone unturned in providing tax payer convenience however big or small but would also be taking various measures to combat tax evasion so as to discourage dishonesty in tax payments which are rightly due to the government.
 
Latha Kini, president of the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Y Ganesh, president of the Udupi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Muralimohan, president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Mangalore Chapter, Prasad Raj Kanchan, president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Udupi Chapter, B Nagaraj Shetty, chairman, Coastal Development Authority were the prominent speakers. They congratulated the income tax department for providing the tax payers of the region with the ASK facility and for being on the forefront in undertaking various friendly measures and delivery of services to taxpayers.
 
Dhirendra Kumar Jha, additional commissioner of income tax proposed the vote of thanks and the programme concluded with lunch.

Mangalore records negative growth in I-T collection

DHNS

Growth rate in the city is -10 per cent as against Bangalore’s 15 per cent

Mangalore city which is the land of businessmen and bankers has lagged behind in paying the Income Tax this year. If the growth rate in income tax collection of India is 10 per cent, Bangalore is 15 per cent, Mangalore city has witnessed a negative trend of -10 per cent during the year 2011-12, informed Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Panaji Dilip Kumar.

He said Mangalore is especially lagging behind in the personal income tax collection compared to the corporate tax collection.  He said that Rs 300 crore personal income tax was collected this year, while the IT Department had to refund Rs 400 crore leading to the negative growth and severe deficit in the tax collection. He was delivering presidential address at the inauguration of Aayakar Seva Kendra at the Income Tax Department, Mangalore branch on Monday.

Expressing concern over the negative trend he said the tax collection in Mangalore is not up to the mark and the Department is facing loss.

The Department will take measures to identify the tax evaders in the city by enforcing machinery to find the tax evaders in the form of searches and surveys.

“The IT Department will be very tough on the tax evaders and the big tax evaders will not be spared,” he warned and added that if the due taxes are paid promptly there would not be any IT deficit.

Responding to the request of IT Employees’ Federation General Secretary Vinod about the shortage of employees in the Mangalore branch, the Commissioner said that he is well aware of the manpower shortage and he would make arrangements to shift the excess employees from Bangalore branch to the Mangalore branch.

ICAI Udupi Chapter President Ganesh Y requested the Commissioner to start a Seva Kendra in Udupi too, for which the Commissioner said that the centre would be opened if the IT collection increases in Udupi.

Pay the due

Chief Commisioner of Income Tax Bangalore-1 K Satyanarayana who inaugurated the Aayakar Seva Kendra asked Mangaloreans to pay the due tax amounts within next four days before the closing of the current fiscal year. Informing about the newly opened Aayakar Seva Kendra he said the centre has been set up to help the tax payers who visit the IT office.

The Finance Minister had given green signal to open three Seva Kendras in Karnataka and one in Goa during the year 2011-12.

Centres have been already opened in Bangalore and Goa and the next Kendra will be opened in Dharwad.

“The Seva Kendra which is functioning in Bangalore from January 27, 2012 has received good response with nearly 3,000 people using the centre in February and 2,662 tax payers during March,” he said, adding that suggestions are accepted from the tax payers for the improvement of Seva Kendra.

ATMs in 75 centres

Indian Overseas Bank Chairman and MD M Narendra who inaugurated the Overseas Bank ATM in the Seva Kendra informed that the IT Department has approved installation of Overseas Bank ATM machines in 75 more Seva Kendras across the country in the coming days. The ATM centre will help the tax payers to make advance payments, he said.

Income Tax Commissioner B S N Prasad, Karnataka Bank Chairman Ananthakrishna, IT Officer J K Hota and others were present.

About Aayakar Seva Kendra

Aayakar Seva Kendra (ASK) is a one-stop computerised facility for the tax payers to obtain the services promised by the IT Department in a time bound manner. The office comprising of well trained personnel will provide tax payer services like easy filling up and filing of returns and other applications, ascertaining Permanent Account Number (PAN), knowing the tax credit status, redressal and prevention of grievances etc. The Kendra aims at promoting voluntary Tax compliance by providing better tax payer services.

The Kendras are opened by the IT Department under Sevottam scheme. The Department has so far established 60 Seva Kendras across the country and the Finance ministry has given nod to set up 17 centres during the current financial year.