BackNow pay RTI application fees, dividends and spectrum charges to govt online
The government has launched an online portal to collect all forms of non-tax revenue, including dividends, royalties, and RTI application fees
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New Delhi: Chairpersons of public sector undertakings (PSUs) lining up in front of the finance minister’s office to hand over dividend cheques will now be a thing of the past. Even payment of application fees under the Right to Information (RTI), using the tedious mode of cheque and demand draft, will now be history.
In another boost to cashless economy, the government has launched an online portal to collect all forms of non-tax revenue, including dividends, royalties, and RTI application fees. Non-tax revenues are expected to cross the ₹ 2 trillion mark this fiscal year itself.
With most of the tax collection processes also completely computerized, the entire revenue collection system of the Union government has now moved online. With the advent of goods and services tax (GST), even the tax collection at the state level will be completely online.
In the past few years, successive governments have tried to give a boost to the cashless economy—be it the direct transfer of subsidies and benefits under various social security programmes of the government, opening of bank accounts for every Indian household along with a Rupay debit card or exploring ways to encourage card and online transactions.
The non-tax portal, developed by the Controller General of Accounts, will provide a one-stop platform for companies and individuals to make all non-tax payments to the government. These payments include dividends paid by state-owned entities, interest receipts, spectrum charges, royalty, license fee, sale of forms and RTI application fee.
While direct and indirect taxes are mainly collected through e-payment, non-tax revenues were collected mainly through physical instruments such as bank drafts, cheques and cash. This led to tedious paperwork as well as wastage of time as individuals and companies had to first go to the bank to get a demand draft and then deposit it with the government department.
The portal will have features like an online user interface and payment gateway with the option of making payment through credit cards, debit cards and net banking as well as reconciliation and accounting of receipts by government departments at the back-end.
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