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Runner-up : e-Gov Projects : Govt of India : Automation of Central Excise & Service Tax [ACES]

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PCQ Bureau
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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.

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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.

Runner-up : e-Gov Projects

Company Scenario
Before Deployment
  • Manual filling of CES forms and returns

  • What was deployed

  • A portal to facilitate the online filing of central

    excise and service taxes.

 
After Deployment  
  • Reduced tabulation times

  • Reduced paperwork and  hence less human errors

  • Automated online procedure helps in quick tabulation

    for references and audits

 
Implementation partners - D.P.

Dash, Additional Director General (Systems)
 
Implementation partners - Wipro  

Roll out of the ACES application is expected to result in a major change in

the way the Central Excise and Service Tax formations conduct their regular

business vis-à-vis the assessees. E-filing and e-processing of documents will

replace manual filing and handling of paper documents, making the offices almost

paperless. In the new system, taxpayers can register themselves, file their

returns and claim their refunds online as against the earlier manual system.

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What's the USP of this project?



ACES is a centralized web-based application accessible through the

Internet. Active users comprise of around 15 lakhs external and 7 thousand

departmental users.

What has been the overall impact of this project?



Number of hits on the aces website is 10,76,38,556.

Benefits to the assessees

  • Online registration and amendment of registration

    details

  • Electronic filing of all documents

  • Online tracking of the status of applications,

    claims, and permissions

  • Faster, system supported processing of refund claims,

    faster resolution of disputes

  • Single source information on all their financial

    transactions with CBEC

Benefits to the departmental officers

The ACES application will greatly assist the

departmental officers in discharging their duties:

  • All critical data elements like Registration No, PAN

    No. will be validated by the system.

  • Automatic alerts for the pending tasks when deadline

    is approaching

  • The returns will be subjected to a risk-based

    scrutiny.

  • uniformity in application of laws, procedures, etc

Whom is this project meant for? What kind of users

are using and benefiting from it?




roject is for the tax payers who are manufacturing or service tax provider
or distributors. They don't have to come for submitting monthly/quaterly/half

yearly return. They can track their status from their offices.

Departmental Officers also can forward the request to

there officers. Returns filed by the Assesssee get automatically

scrutinized/validated by the system as it integrated with NSDL database for

GAR7 challan.

Department officials can also use this facility to scrutinize the details

filed in the returns and claims, manage the adjudication process, manage the

risk, create audit profile, reconcile the accounts and generate MIS reports. The

web-based workflow solution enhances productivity, ensures flexibility through

rules configuration engine, ensures ease in changing business rules and also

provides collection and analysis of metrics. The new system also has advanced

security features, high performance and seamlessly scalable architecture. Key

benefits include reduced need for face-to-face interaction between tax payers

and tax collectors. The application enables faster registration and submission

of returns for assesses. Assesses can track refunds online and settle disputes

faster.

Department officials can also report on tax collections faster and more

accurately. In short, the application brings under one centralized platform, a

very large and diverse set of procedures and business functionalities covering

the entire gamut of Central Excise and Service Tax to enable an efficient tax

system. The biggest challenge was selection of right technology and architecture

which can support thousands of concurrent users and will be scalable in nature

in future.  Another challenge was getting the right business information and

knowledge as different jurisdiction are following different practices and

deciding among them was a challenge.

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Users can register on the portal after

which they can file customs and excise tax online in an easy and user

friendly manner

The popularity and the success of the portal can be accessed from the fact

that from go-live the portal has managed to receive in access of 11 crore hits

and the number is growing.

Central Excise & Service Tax Registrations by users filed in ACES has crossed

the 2 lakh mark whereas Central Excise & Service Tax Returns filed online in

ACES is also 2 lakhs. These figures speak volumes for the widespread adoption of

the portal for its use.

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