KATHMANDU, April 25: The government has started a pilot project that will replace revenue collection from next fiscal year. Yubaraj Khatiwada, Minister of Finance inaugurated electronic payment system at the Ministry today.
“During the test phase, users will be able to pay their taxes and utility bills not exceeding Rs. 100, 000,” Arjun Prasad Pokhrel, spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance said, adding that by next fiscal year, government would develop system where one can swipe their debit or credit cards for payment.
The Ministry of Finance believes that the project would reduce cost of doing business, cost of collection, improve efficiency and increase transparency. It will also reduce workload from government staffers while saving time of consumers.
At present, to collect Rs. 1,000, the government spends .69 paisa. “With electric payment, we hope to reduce it to .3 paisa,” Pokhrel said.
While electronic system is efficient, ample of taxpayers have suffered from a crashed server. “Learning from the past, we’ve made it sure that the system won’t crash. If it does, we’ve built an option for offline storage and registry,” he added.
Source: Republica
