Kathmandu. Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle has directed to provide cash gifts to vendors selling goods and services under the taxpayer incentive program. Speaking at a revenue review meeting held at the Ministry of Finance on Friday, he directed the Inland Revenue Department.

The government has been rewarding consumers with cash for taking bills from this fiscal year, saying that they have developed a culture of taking and paying bills and building a formal economy. The program has developed a culture of bill taking and has directly benefited the revenue collection. Wagle gave this directive to the department on Friday.

He said that there have been complaints that traders are hesitant to issue bills as the culture of taking bills through incentive programs has developed, and they also need to be encouraged. “It is widely seen that they should take bills. But it is also necessary to take a policy of incentives to those who want to issue bills,” he said, “Amend the procedure and come up with a proposal. How much money can be given? So that they do not have to worry about issuing bills.” ’

He said that it is also necessary to develop the culture that the bill should be paid. Under the Taxpayer Incentive Reward Program, which started on July 17, one person is given Rs 1.34 lakh on a daily basis on the basis of the bill number and Rs 10 lakh in bumper gifts to each person every 15-15 days. In which the winner gets Rs 1 lakh per day and Rs 7.50 lakh on the bumper respectively in case of accidental gains tax deduction.

So far, five gifts have been announced fortnightly from July 1 to October 29 and cash gifts have been given to the winners. Out of these, 74 people have won Rs 1 lakh each and five people have won Rs 7.50 lakh in bumper gifts. Now, if the department makes arrangements in time, the prize will also be announced for the vendors in the announcement of the prize of the second fortnight of September (October 16 to September). It is clear that the prize incentive amount will not be as big as the consumer’s, but it is not yet clear how much the amount will be.

To participate in the incentive reward, consumers must collect the original PAN or VAT bill while purchasing the item. Consumers who have paid the purchase amount online are automatically eligible for the reward, while consumers who have taken the bill by transacting in cash can upload the bill by opening the link given on the Taxpayer Rewards Portal of the Department of Internal Revenue.