It was the second year for the Central Board of Excise and Customs at the India International Trade Fair and its popularity could be gauged from the number of footfalls it received. Set in a spacious corner of hall number 18, the walk at the pavilion was an experience in its own.
The main focus of the pavilion was to popularise and publicise Service Tax Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme (VCES) announced by the Minister of Finance in his budget speech and which came into effect on May 10. The objective of the scheme was to encourage disclosure of tax dues and compliance of service tax law by the persons who have not paid service tax dues for the period from October, 2007 to December 2012, either on account of ignorance of law or otherwise. It was a golden opportunity for such people to pay the ‘tax dues’ and come clean. On payment of the tax dues relating to the said period there will be complete waiver of interest, penalty and other proceedings including prosecution. It also gives you the option to pay the amount in two installments which is 50 per cent before the end of 2013 and the remaining before June 2014.
A service tax VCES help desk was set up at the pavilion to accept declarations under this scheme and also to answer any queries or for clarifications from the trade or assesses related to this scheme. Besides a help desk was also set up for answering any queries or for clarifications related to any issue on customs and central excise.
The best part of this arrangement were the various rounds of quiz contests with questions on VCES that were held at the pavilion. People who gave the correct answers were given ‘VCES ke laddoo’ as gift. In addition painting contests, mime, face painting and magic shows were held to attract public. Kids were presented with certificates with their photographs along with gifts for participating in these competitions. There was a phenomenal response to the pavilion with huge footfalls.
Alok Jha, Addl Commissioner, Customs and Central Excise feels that the kids zone is what helped create maximum awareness. He said, “If children come to know this information at such a young age it is better for us. Plus, when kids come and participate in such stuff, the parents too get aware and the information just flows through grapevine.”
Service tax started in 1994 and managed collecting only Rs 400 crores. Now, the government collects Rs 1,32,000 crores and aim to collect Rs 1,80,000 by 2014. Among the indirect taxes there are three taxes, custom, central excise and service tax.
There are a total of 17,00,000 service tax providers in India. However, only 7,00,000 of them actually pay service tax.
In order to make people more aware of this fact, the pavilion introduces huge banners all around the Trade Fair along with a television commercial showing Irfan Khan and Vinay Pathak.
The idea for this came from the Finance Minister, said VK Goel, Commissioner, Customs and Central Excise. “We had to popularise this scheme and he suggested that we should make it interactive. Then this ladoo concept just came about and people really liked it,” he added.
IITF is one of the largest trade fairs in the world both in terms of exhibitors and visitors participation and has evolved its unique character as an iconic national event. Setting up a pavilion during the IITF, 2013 has provided a great platform to the Department to publicise the VCES scheme which will help in getting better response.
CBEC pavilion was highly praised by the public as well as media and attended attention for its excellence in display and is awarded with a bronze medal by Dr Farooq Abdullah, Minister for New and Renewable Energy during a ceremony held at Pragati Maidan on November 27.