Excise and Taxation Office: ‘Better service to make agents redundant’
10 new counters, facilitation centre set up to speed up queues for vehicle owners.
Excise and Taxation Office: ‘Better service to make agents redundant’. PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE:
The Excise and Taxation Office (ETO) has opened 10 new counters for those seeking to register their vehicles and pay token tax, hoping that they will make ‘agents’ redundant.
Agents are men who hang around the office offering to fill out forms and stand in line in place of customers, in exchange for a fee. The E&T Department has previously launched crackdowns on these agents, but they have been ineffective.
Now, E&T officials said, they hoped that the new counters and facilitation centre would make the process of paying token tax and registering or transferring vehicle ownership much quicker and simpler, obviating the need for the agents.
A hall on the ground floor of the ETO was inaugurated earlier this month. The hall contains 10 counters and these are solely for vehicle owners. Agents, or representatives of private companies, leasing companies and banks, are not allowed to enter the hall.
“The idea is that vehicle owners won’t find themselves stuck in a line behind an individual carrying a dozen files, so their business will be attended to quickly,” said Motor Registration Authority Director Imran Aslam. The hall also has a special counter for elderly citizens.
Aslam said that earlier this month, the agents had been warned that should they be caught approaching customers, they would be forced to sign an undertaking not to do so, failing which they would be arrested. From Monday, he said, any agents found advertising their services or approaching vehicle owners would be handed over to the police. “We cannot get rid of all the agents at once. This way, we hope people will come to the office themselves, so the agents won’t be able to find work,” he said.
The ETO already had a facilitation centre, where people could pick up free registration forms. The centre has been upgraded and is now headed by an excise and taxation officer, rather than an assistant excise and taxation officer. Officials at the centre have been instructed to assist people with filling out forms, particularly illiterate citizens, and to accompany them to the counters if needed. They are also available to offer guidance on token tax payment and vehicle transfer procedures.
The E&T Department has also introduced an SMS service to inform vehicle owners of any payments made against their vehicle under any head since January 1, 2013. Aslam said that this was intended to guard against fraud by agents.
He said that in some cases, agents hired by customers did not make their payments and gave them fake receipts. The customer remained unaware of this until they were stopped at an E&T checkpoint and told that they had not paid token tax.
Any payment made for vehicle registration or transfer or token tax will be reported to the customer if they send in an SMS to 8070, said Aslam. The message sent to the number should be in the following format: MRA serial number-year of registration-registration number.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 6th, 2013.
The Excise and Taxation Office (ETO) has opened 10 new counters for those seeking to register their vehicles and pay token tax, hoping that they will make ‘agents’ redundant.
Agents are men who hang around the office offering to fill out forms and stand in line in place of customers, in exchange for a fee. The E&T Department has previously launched crackdowns on these agents, but they have been ineffective.
Now, E&T officials said, they hoped that the new counters and facilitation centre would make the process of paying token tax and registering or transferring vehicle ownership much quicker and simpler, obviating the need for the agents.
A hall on the ground floor of the ETO was inaugurated earlier this month. The hall contains 10 counters and these are solely for vehicle owners. Agents, or representatives of private companies, leasing companies and banks, are not allowed to enter the hall.
“The idea is that vehicle owners won’t find themselves stuck in a line behind an individual carrying a dozen files, so their business will be attended to quickly,” said Motor Registration Authority Director Imran Aslam. The hall also has a special counter for elderly citizens.
Aslam said that earlier this month, the agents had been warned that should they be caught approaching customers, they would be forced to sign an undertaking not to do so, failing which they would be arrested. From Monday, he said, any agents found advertising their services or approaching vehicle owners would be handed over to the police. “We cannot get rid of all the agents at once. This way, we hope people will come to the office themselves, so the agents won’t be able to find work,” he said.
The ETO already had a facilitation centre, where people could pick up free registration forms. The centre has been upgraded and is now headed by an excise and taxation officer, rather than an assistant excise and taxation officer. Officials at the centre have been instructed to assist people with filling out forms, particularly illiterate citizens, and to accompany them to the counters if needed. They are also available to offer guidance on token tax payment and vehicle transfer procedures.
The E&T Department has also introduced an SMS service to inform vehicle owners of any payments made against their vehicle under any head since January 1, 2013. Aslam said that this was intended to guard against fraud by agents.
He said that in some cases, agents hired by customers did not make their payments and gave them fake receipts. The customer remained unaware of this until they were stopped at an E&T checkpoint and told that they had not paid token tax.
Any payment made for vehicle registration or transfer or token tax will be reported to the customer if they send in an SMS to 8070, said Aslam. The message sent to the number should be in the following format: MRA serial number-year of registration-registration number.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 6th, 2013.