MB Subba 

Taxpayers can now file their Business Income Tax (BIT) from their phone.  This has been made possible with the launch of a mobile app called BIT estimated tax app (BETA).

The app is aimed at benefiting 30,000 businesses paying BIT across the country. According to the Ministry of Finance, BETA will not only increase the efficiency of tax assessment, payment and collection, but also reduce the administrative cost.

The BETA was launched to reduce physical interaction as well as supplementing revenue administration and management information system or RAMIS.

Finance Minister Namgay Tshering at the launch of the app yesterday said that some hiccups in the implementation of the app were expected in the first tax season. But he added that a minimum of 50 percent success should be achieved in the first year.

“With the experience and feedback that we will receive from tax payers, we should keep improving the app,” the finance minister said, adding that the ministry would keep strengthening the cyber safety of taxpayers.

He said that a help desk should be kept in each regional revenue and customs office.

Lyonpo said that the digitalisation of the taxation system was in line with His Majesty’s vision of the 21st century economy. He said that the MoF was striving to be the first ministry to go fully digital.

How to use BETA

The BETA can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. The taxpayer should fill in the required information in the app and press the submit button.

The department of revenue and customs will cross check the information filed by the taxpayer for assessment and approves for payment of BIT. A payment receipt will be sent to the taxpayer.

To ensure that businesses or incomes are not undervalued, officials said that they would check the past records of turnovers and taxes paid of the taxpayer. Taxpayers can fill in the information if the business were not operational during certain months of the assessment year.

With the launch, tax officials need not visit business houses or shops to estimate the tax.

The video tutorial on how to use the BETA will be available on the department’s Facebook page and website. The tutorial will also be shared through a WeChat group dedicated for taxpayers paying estimated lump sum tax.

At the launch, a lottery draw based on tax paying numbers (TPNs) was held. Winners of the draw were awarded mobile phones with free data package of 1,200MB and Nu 100 talk time.