DEVELOPMENT OF A WEB-BASED TAX ASSESSMENT SYSTEM

ABSTRACT

The aim of this project was to develop a web-based system that will contain all the information about the private sector assets for tax assessment. The objective was to register and assess all the assets of the entire private sectors establishment in a particular area for tax payment. These assets include: land, heavy equipment, light equipment, motor/vehicle, residential building, commercial building, and industrial building etc. The system will carry out tax assessment of the assets and enable the user to know the amount of money to pay on for the assets as tax. The system performs the following function: e-registration, tax evaluation, listing of designated banks, tax offices, and business firms. A questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection on information about the existing system. A Structural System Analysis and Design Methodology (SSADM) were used in the design of the software. The system was implemented using WAMP SERVER, PHP, HTML, CSS and MYSQL technologies. The result of the study revealed that the web-based system enables a client to register his/her business, generate an acknowledgement slip, conduct a tax evaluation of his assets, generate a tax invoice, display a list of officially designated banks for tax payment, display a list of tax offices. and also display a list of existing business firms in the area covered by the web-based system.

Chapter One

Introduction

1. Background

A web-based system refers to an application or service that is resident on a server and is accessible using a Web browser. It is accessible from anywhere in the world via the Web. A web-based system can be used to conduct tax assessment in any particular state or country. The aim of the present study is to develop a web-based system for tax assessment of private sector assets. Examples of these assets are land, heavy equipment, light equipment, motor/vehicle, residential building, commercial building, and industrial building etc. The web-based system will contain all the information about the private sector assets for tax assessment. It will enable the registration and assessment of all the assets of the private sector establishment in a particular area for tax payment.

The web-based system enables a client to register his/her business. After registration, an acknowledgement page (slip) will be displayed in another page with the inscription “Registration Successful”. The user is expected to printout the slip as an evidence of registration. It enables the client to conduct a tax evaluation of his assets. After the evaluation, a tax invoice will automatically be generated on a new page. The client is expected to print out the tax invoice and proceed to a designated bank for tax payment. The web-based system enables the client to view the list of officially designated banks for tax payment. It enables a client to view the list of tax offices where a client can go for the conversion of bank teller to receipt after he has already paid in the bank. It also enables a client to view the list of existing business firms in the area covered by the web-based system.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Some of the problems that necessitated this study are:

1. The piles and stack of files to be processed makes work drudgery in tax offices.
2. Delay in completing manual tax assessment due to so many processes and complexity of procedures involved.
3. Time consumed or time wasted in retrieving  records (i.e searching for records) in tax offices.
4. The method of updating files in tax offices makes the exercise cumbersome and boring.

  1.3    Objective of the Study

To develop a system that should be able to

1. Provide documentation for updating and retrieval of data about taxable private sector assets.
2. Give accurate and timely information for management decision making.
3. Provide facilities for quick access to stored data giving at random analysis to assist management functions.
4. Eliminate manual filing systems, tedious and repetitive classical work and provide a safer way of preserving documents in tax offices.
5. Speed up the processes of assessing the private sector assets for tax payment.
6. Enable clients to easily evaluate their assets online and know the amount involved for tax payment.

1.4     Significance of the Study

With the successful development of a web-based tax assessment system for private sectors assets for tax payment, there will be a tremendous changes and improvement in the taxation system in all ramifications such as:

• Clients’ records are compiled and preserved in files in tax offices. These files are stacked in piles indiscriminately making file processing difficult. With this system in place, the era of piles and stack of files for tedious manual processing would come to an end as all the processes can now be carried out automatically and at ease with the aid of a web-based system.
• Previously, tax assessment involves a lot of hectic procedures. Some officers who serve as field workers have to visit business premises in the town one by one to collect information about their assets in a bid to use the data for tax assessment. With the aid of a web-based system, there would be no more delay in finishing the tax assessment as the procedure would now become very simple.
• In the past, retrieval of clients’ record for tax assessment or any other official purpose in the tax offices in a difficult thing to do because some official documents containing information about clients may have either be misplaced or disappeared. With the utilization of a web-based system, there would be no more waste of time in retrieving clients’ records because it is done automatically with the aid of a system.
• Method of updating files is burdensome in the past. But with the advent of a web-based system, the method of updating file will no longer be cumbersome, but very simple and records can be easily accessed, inserted or deleted.
• In the past, it is impossible for clients to evaluate their assets. They are at the mercy of tax officers who exploit them as they write any amount of money they like and ask the clients to pay as tax for their assets without any justification. With the arrival of a web-based system, the trend has change as clients can easily evaluate their assets online from different places to know the amount involved for tax payment.
  •     Scope of the Study

        This study is concerned with development of a web-based tax assessment system. Greater emphasis would be placed on using the system to provide documentation for updating and retrieval of data about taxable private sector assets, give accurate and timely information for management decision making, provide facilities for quick access to stored data giving at random analysis to assist management functions, eliminate manual filing systems, tedious and repetitive classical work and provide a safer way of preserving documents in tax offices, speed up the processes of assessing the private sector assets for tax payment, and enable clients easily evaluate their assets online from their destination to know the amount involved for tax payment.

1.6. Limitation of the Study

          In the course of carrying out this study, the researcher encountered communication problem with respondents (tax officers) as they speak different dialects. Respondents were not free at providing information about the existing system because they thought the information sought was a threat to their job. Movement to various tax offices spread across the 17 local government areas of Enugu State was very difficult due to heavy rains and bad roads which made the researcher to incur more expenditure on transportation.  

1.7 Definition of Terms

Web:  web isa complex system of an interconnected element, structure, network, or design

Web-Based System: A web-based system is one that can be accessed via a web browser and typically off-site or off of the network that one is currently on.

Tax: A tax is a pecuniary burden laid upon individuals or property owners to support the government. It is a payment exacted by legislative authority. It is not a voluntary payment or donation, but an enforced contribution, exacted pursuant to legislative authority.

Tax Assessment: tax assessment is avalue calculated as the basis for determining the amounts to be paid or assessed for tax or insurance purposes.

Private Sector: In economics, the private sector is that part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is run by private individuals or groups, usually as a means of enterprise for profit, and is not controlled by the state.

Asset: An asset is anything owned by individual or group of people that has exchange value, a valuable or desirable thing.  In financial accounting, assets are economic resources. Anything tangible or intangible that is capable of being owned or controlled to produce value and that is held to have positive economic value is considered an asset.