VMC abolishes manual collection of house tax
Wednesday, 17 September 2014 06:36
administrator
The Times of India 17.09.2014 VMC abolishes manual collection of house tax Varanasi:
Taking a step towards paperless office, Varanasi Municipal Corporation
had taken an initiative to bring its property and taxation department
online.
"We have abolished 100% manually collection of house
tax. The inspectors equipped with spot billing machine (SBM) go to the
houses to collect tax. Around 20% of people are paying house tax bills
online," Sandeep Srivastava of computer coordinator cell of VMC. The SBM
service has been started from September 2 and till September15, as many
as 1,119 people paid their house tax through this service, he said. VMC
was first in Uttar Pradesh to begin online portal for paying tax in
2009.
In the current financial year from April to September 15,
as many as 330 people had deposited house tax worth Rs 3.78 lakh
online. The department has established computerised centres for paying
tax in Bhelupura, Dashashwmedh, Kotwali, Adampura and trans-Varuna zones
with the headquarters at VMC. People are free to pay bills anywhere at
these six places.
A tax payer said: "The computerised system is
bringing transparency in the system, which gives a feeling of
satisfaction." E-services has brought more transparency in the
department as till 2009, VMC used to collect only Rs 7 crores to Rs 8
crores as tax but using e-services, the amount reached above Rs 22
crores annually.
VMC is also gearing up to provide death and
birth certificates of individuals on the spot in hospitals. The process
is in its last stage as the software of incurring digital signature of
people into the computer system has been stocked at NIC in Lucknow. For
experiment, ten hospitals including government and private nursing
homes, are to be connected with main computer system that would be
located in VMC.
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Govt to amend rules, allow property tax refund claims
Friday, 12 September 2014 07:05
administrator
The Times of India 12.09.2014 Govt to amend rules, allow property tax refund claims GURGAON:
The state government has decided to amend its property tax policy,
which is good news for taxpayers who have paid in excess if one takes
into account recent policy changes. Officials said that since
house tax policy has changed several times over the last few years, and
with the latest change adopted in October 2013, the quantum of tax
actually reduced, meaning tax payers had paid in excess. "The
house tax policy of the state has been changed a couple of times in the
recent past and before the latest policy was announced in October 2013,
some consumers were paying in excess. However, when the new policy was
announced, some tax was reduced or rationalized and therefore some of
the taxpayers have benefited," said P Raghavendra Rao, additional chief
secretary to the government of Haryana. "Some of them have been
demanding that the excess amount that they have paid be refunded and
since there was no such provision, we had to bring this amendment.
According to this amendment, which has already come into effect, those
owners who have paid more can now approach the municipal corporation and
seek a refund. In case they do not wish to seek a refund the excess
amount will automatically get adjusted against property tax for the year
2014-15," he said. Rao, the principal secretary of the urban
local bodies department, said while there might not be many in the
residential category who would have been charged excess amount, there
are many who might want to seek a refund in the institutional and
commercial category. "The tax amount in the residential sector
is not much, but those in the commercial category would benefit as they
pay lakhs of rupees as tax and they might want to seek a refund. The
excess amount will be refunded to them without interest by the municipal
corporation concerned," he said.
Civic body to bring new properties under tax net
Friday, 12 September 2014 06:59
administrator
The Times of India 12.09.2014 Civic body to bring new properties under tax net AURANGABAD:
The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation is once again gearing up to launch
a drive to identify new properties and step up tax recovery. The civic
body, facing financial difficulties, has planned to deploy more manpower
for the purpose. Sources in the civic body said that the
increased financial liabilities of the AMC had left no other option for
it but to consolidate its revenue generation. Ramesh Pawar,
additional municipal commissioner, also said that the civic is looking
forward to generate more revenue. "We have found that many properties in
the city are remaining out of the tax net. Looking at the city's
population and geographic area, the number of properties registered with
the municipal body is quite less. It seems that there is enough scope
for identifying new properties and brining then under tax net," he said. The city has an estimated population of 12.5 lakh, while it covers nearly 152 square km area.
Pawar said that 1.91 lakh properties (commercial and residential) have
been registered with the municipal body. "But it should be more than
this. Municipal commissioner Prakash Mahajan has directed the
authorities to make efforts to increase revenue. He has also agreed to
provide additional manpower to the civic tax assessment department," he
said. Currently, the department has eight sub-overseers to take
care of the entire city. Besides property assessment, these
sub-overseers are also conducting surveys and resolving disputes. This
ultimately affects the assessment process. The AMC on Thursday
claimed that it has identified nearly 10,000 new properties in the past
two financial years and brought them under the ambit of property tax. In
the current year, it has completed assessment of 2,221 new properties.
The civic body is expecting additional revenue of Rs 5 to Rs 6 crore
from new properties in the current financial year. In 2012-13,
the civic body had aimed to collect property tax of Rs 100 crore but the
actual collection was only Rs 58.11 crore. In 2013-14, the AMC had
collected about Rs 70 crore against the target of Rs 100 crore. In the
current financial year, the AMC has set a target of Rs 130-140 crore,
while the recovery till date stands at Rs 27 crore. Increased financial liabilities
The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation has recently handed over two
projects - water distribution and streetlights - to two private players.
This has resulted in additional financial liabilities on the civic
body. For the street light project, the AMC has to pay Rs 2.71 crore per
month for a period of 10 years, while, for the water distribution
projects, it has to shell out Rs 5.25 crore per month. Apart
from this, the civic body has to take care of its monthly expenditure,
including Rs 11.87 crore on salaries and Rs 3.3 crore on repayment of
loans and other routine expenses. In all, the AMC's monthly liability is
Rs 25 to 28 crore but its revenue generation is less than Rs 25 crore
(average based of last three months' collection).
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