RAWALPINDI: Due to ongoing software flaws and problematic internet at the Department of Excise, Taxation, and Narcotics Control Rawalpindi, citizens are facing trouble making online payments from home.
Since the e-payment system hasn’t worked for the past five days, residents have had trouble submitting online payments for biometric fees, token taxes, luxury taxes, and property taxes.
The system’s malfunction has resulted in a daily loss to the department of millions of rupees as the sources informed that in the excise department that the e-pay system has been broken for the last week.
Furthermore, the cause of the internet’s technological malfunction was not yet understood and the sources claimed that although attempts were being made to improve the e-pay system, little progress had been made.
Citizens who pay their taxes online receive savings of about 10% and users have stopped paying taxes since the internet system isn’t working correctly.
On the other hand, the department has proposed to the high-ups to suspend the biometric system for another two months and to carry out new registration and transfer of vehicles and motorcycles using the manual method.
Since the complete record of registration for old cars and motorcycles had not been computerized, people were having trouble getting old vehicles transferred in September 2022.
In response to protests and demands from transporters and motor dealers, the excise and taxation department suspended the biometric verification while the cars and motorbikes were returned unchecked since the computerized record was unavailable.
As per the sources, the excise and taxes department lost millions of rupees every day as a result of the temporary suspension of the manual transfer of ownership of old cars in April and the installation of the biometric system for the registration and transfer of vehicles and motorbikes.
The biometric system was put on hold beginning September 10, 2022, for more than three months to make up for daily losses of millions of rupees.
According to sources, starting on January 23, the current manual procedure for car registration and transfer will no longer be used.
The excise and taxes department added that the biometric system was a security mechanism for car ownership that attempts to stop counterfeiting and the sale of stolen automobiles.
Source: Express Tribune
