The government has further simplified tax procedures by reducing the number of returns filed by manufacturers for Excise Duties to a unified one-page return from October, 2003.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs on Wednesday came up with a new system of a unified return instead of two returns -- one for manufactured goods and another for availing Cenvat.

"The filing of statutory returns with the department has been made less rigorous by substantially reducing the number of details required to be furnished in the return," the CBEC said in a statement.

In the new return, the details of excisable goods manufactured by an assessee are required to be furnished based on the 6-digit sub-heading level of the Central Excise Tariff Act, and not on description of goods.

"This facilitates online filing of returns and use of automation for collection, compilation and analysis of trade statistics," it said.

The move is part of government's efforts to reduce the number of steps and simplify procedures, which in turn reduce complexity and transaction costs.