Commercial Taxes Dept, Govt. of Kerala's Digital Signature Authentication Implementation

The Problem: The commercial taxes department accounts for 75% of the tax revenue collected by the state. Earlier, the registered dealers had to file periodic returns at the Assessment office of the Commercial Tax Department in a prescribed format along with the detailed enclosures of purchases and sales invoices affected during the period of consideration. Separate returns had to be filed under CST, VAT and KGST. Based on tax rates and other details, dealers have to work out the net taxable amount. At least 6-7 visits to CTD offices were inevitable for tasks like submission, challan receipt, statutory forms, for signatures, etc. The dealers had to visit Treasury to get the serial number for their challan and then had to visit the banks to remit the tax to Government account.

The Solution: Digital signatures were made available to reduce the dependency of hardcopy submission made by taxpayers. The CTD chose a company called eMudhra Consumer Server Ltd to enable digital signature based authentication of KVATIS (Kerala Value Added Tax Information System) application. In the first phase, tasks such as e-filing of returns, uploading of invoice statements, digital signing of return forms and electronic communication by officials was implemented. In the second phase, digital submission of audit reports by chartered accountants, online applications with digital signatures and e-upload of files was implemented.

The Result: With digital signature system implemented, about Rs.3 Cr of printing and logistic costs has been saved. It saves the dealers' multiple trips to the CTD, most of which were done to collect delivery notes. Dealers can print them from the comfort of their homes or offices.