Govt of India : Automation of Central Excise & Service Tax [ACES].

Automation of Central Excise and Service Tax (ACES), an initiative by the CBEC ,aims at improving tax-payer services, transparency, accountability and efficiency in the indirect tax administration in India. CBEC has started an online portal called http://www.aces.gov.in/  which can be accessed by anybody with a computer having Internet connection.  This is a Mission Mode project (MMP) of the Prime Minister under the e-Governance plan of the Govt  of India and was  rolled-out in phases by end-September, 2008 in some selected pilot Commissionerates and thereafter nationally by June 2009.  The main reason for CBEC to switch to the electronic medium is to increase the transparency and build efficiency for the entire user base. Government is concerned about the ease of the tax payers to pay taxes and file returns to the government. CBEC has decided to use Information Technology to address the issue of collection and payment of taxes for the ease of the taxpayers even while attaining excellence in the formulation and implementation of taxes and its procedures. Since taxes form an important component of the Govt fiscal policy, proper robust transformation is the key for business function ensuring e-registration, e-fling, e-payments, etc.

This application, developed by Wipro, aims to automate all major processes in Central Excise and Service Tax through a workflow-based application. ACES is the second generation software, which will gradually replace the current applications of SERMON, SACER, SAPS, STREMS, used in Central Excise and Service Tax for capturing returns and registration details of the assessees. It encompasses the entire gamut of Central Excise and Service Tax processes-registration, returns, accounting and reconciliation, refunds, dispute resolution, audit, provisional assessment, exports, claims, intimations and permissions.

Source : PCQuest.Ciol