The Telangana Government on Friday constituted a Revenue Coordination Committee (RECCE) for coordination among various revenue earning/enforcement agencies of the State and Central Governments.
“The Revenue Department has informed that it is imperative to plug leakages to augment resources to meet the welfare and developmental obligations of Government. Presently the revenue earning departments namely Commercial Taxes, Excise, Registration and Stamps and Transport Department contribute majority of the State’s Own Tax Revenue (SOTR). Other minor sources include royalty on minerals, land tax and tax on forest produce. While these departments have their respective standard operating procedures (SOPs) to garner revenues, there is near absence of interface between these departments and Finance Department. Each of these departments operate in silos despite these being a degree of complementarily nature of work between them. The linkages between the revenue earning departments should be recognised and established for preventing leakages and optimising revenues,” said the GO RT No 762 issued on Friday by the Finance (FC) Department.
Therefore, there is an imperative need to evolve an approach to combat the problem of leakage by forging links between Revenue Earning departments in an institutionalised manner. The approach shall necessarily be convergent in nature and should serve the ends of revenue optimisation without making it cumbersome for the tax payer to comply with the existing laws, the GO added.
The new committee will exchange information periodically (at least once in quarter) relating to firms/licensees etc. and also exchange details of cases of default / evasion of tax liability for further action by the Department concerned. The committee will also recommend changes in law/procedure and measure that shall improve the potential to tap revenue from existing source and identify new source and such other measures that shall create synergy for prevention of leakage and optimize revenue.
The 11-member committee will be headed by the Chief Secretary as its chairman and it will meet once in a month and submit its recommendations for issue of necessary orders by respective Revenue Earning departments to augment resources to cater to the welfare development needs of government. (INN)