E-payment made mandatory for corporates

The office of the Andhra Pradesh Chief Commissioner of Income Tax today informed that e-payment of Direct Taxes was mandatory for Corporate Tax payers and those coming under the purview of Sec 44AB, with effect from January 1, 2008. At present, five banks – SBI, UTI Bank, IDBI, HDFC Bank and Union Bank of India – were offering this facility for customers, an official press release here said.

The e-payment was similar to net-banking, where tax payers require a net-banking account with a bank authorised for providing e-payment facility, and the tax payer could make his payment by using the internet. it said.

Tax payers can print a copy of the payment receipt and the bank would send identical data to the Tax Information Network. As soon as the bank authorises tax payment transaction, the tax payer would get on his screen a counterfoil, containing the necessary Challan fields, it said.The taxpayer should quote the CIN available on this counterfoil when filing his return, the release added.