The government on Wednesday launched a nationwide computerised Tax Information Network that would enable corporates to pay taxes and get refunds electronically besides arming taxmen to gather information about the assessees and check evasion.

"It is not only state-of-art but one of the best in the world. Initially, TIN will facilitate corporate assessees for filing returns, but it would extended to individual citizens as well," Finance Minister Jaswant Singh said, launching TIN in New Delhi.

TIN will improve efficiency by reducing interface between the tax-payers and taxmen, interferences and minimise discretionary powers of tax authorities, he said.

Although TIN is meant for assessing direct taxes, Singh said: "We will see the success of direct tax and then extend the coverage (to indirect taxes)."

He said the government was planning to introduce permanent account number cards with digital signatures and reduce the cost of acquiring it significantly and make it readily available like cellphones.

TIN, which will be managed by National Securities Depositories Ltd, will facilitate de-materialisation of tax payment and refunds as also establish secure and seamless logistics of tax collection through integration of primary information, record keeping, dissemination and retrieval, Singh said.