SINDH will embark on a new phase of computerisation of tax collection from July 1, 2013 by extending online facility to more taxpayers and to new districts.

Officials hope that computerisation of collection of six taxes which contribute up to 70 per cent of the total provincial kitty, will lead to an increase in revenue, especially from property tax.

The department of Excise and Taxation plans to bring online collection of infrastructure cess, professional tax, property tax, motor vehicle tax, excise duty, and hotel tax while extending the new system to the 27 districts of the province.

The computerisation of motor vehicle tax is in vogue in Karachi and four regional headquarters of the province, namely Hyderabad, Sukkar, Mirpurkhas and Larkana.

The salient feature of the scheme is to computerise data of all property units in the congested cities of Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkar, and Mirpurkhas. Director-General Excise and Taxation Shoaib Siddiqui is of the view that with computerisation, it would not be possible for tax evaders and staff to reduce the tax amount by tampering with the record in the present manual system.

The online collection of motor vehicle tax and registration (MVR) has been extended to Benazirabad and Khairpur while work on coverage of other major towns in the interior is ongoing.

Officials claim that the large record of vehicles maintained in paper files has been fed into the computer and details of any vehicle required by security agencies or new buyers would be swiftly provided.

On average about 0.2 million motorcycles, 80,000 cars and 35,000 commercial vehicles are registered with the MVR every year and the number is constantly increasing.

Another major source of provincial revenue is infrastructure cess, which is charged on all imports landed in Karachi at the rate ranging from 0.8 per cent to 0.85 per cent of the C&F value of the goods.

Secretary Excise and Taxation Manzoor Ahmed Memon revealed that his department had joined hands with the Regional Tax Office of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in Karachi to exchange data on taxpayers to increase its network of the professional tax.

This is charged at the rate of Rs150 per year from the salaried professionals and from private limited firms, depending on their paid up capital as well as on annual turnover of the business concerns. The exercise has helped the department widen its network of professional tax.

Sindh has three revenue collecting agencies: Sindh Revenue Authority for sales tax on services, Board of Revenue Sindh which collects tax on agriculture and stamp duty on property transactions, and the Excise and Taxation Department. The targets of revenue collection for this year (2011-12) is Rs25 billion for SRA, Rs220 million for BOR and Rs22.5 billion for excise and taxation.

Special tax counters have also been set up at its MVR office at the Civic Centre for ladies and elderly citizens desiring to pay motor vehicle tax and has plans to introduce Smart Cards for the motorists to pay tax while on their way to offices.

The department has also sent a proposal for allocation of funds in the forthcoming budget for construction of a modern tax house in an attempt to bring all tax offices under one roof and prevent unnecessary shuttling for taxpayers from one office to another.