Large taxpayers unit opened in Chennai

The large taxpayers unit in Chennai is expected to provide “a different kind of service of higher quality to the more important customers and clients of the [tax] department,” according to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.

Inaugurating the unit, which is housed in a newly refurbished office at Anna Nagar, Mr. Chidambaram said that “people who pay large sums of money deserve to be treated fairly and courteously.”

The LTU will serve as a single window facility for central excise duties, service tax, corporate tax and income tax for all large tax payers who have paid at least Rs. 5 crore in excise or service tax or Rs. 10 crore in income tax in previous years. The 25 companies which have signed up so far include Ashok Leyland, MRF, Chennai Petroleum, Neyveli Lignite, EID Parry, Sundaram Finance, Indian Overseas Bank, United India Insurance, Ford India and Hyundai Motor India. They are expected to account Rs. 8,000 crore in tax revenue next year. Tax department officials said that 14 more companies planned to join the LTU shortly, which had the potential to serve at least 100 assessees.

When company representatives urged that customs duties and international transactions be brought under the ambit of the LTU as well, the Finance Minister said that would take more time, but would eventually happen.

He appealed to large industrial groups, such as the TVS Group and the Murugappa Group, who were “testing the waters” with a few of their group companies joining up, to bring their entire group within the LTU ambit by the end of the year. He pointed out that the LTU system would bring relief to companies with multi-locational units.