The Times of India            17.12.2013

Pay local body tax: THAM to its members

THANE: The Thane Vyaparudyog Mahasangh (THAM), a flagship of over 40 traders' wings, have appealed to its 40,000 members to pay Local Body Tax (LBT) at the earliest to avoid interest, penalty and administrative action. They have also urged civic officials to conduct more raids to catch hold of defaulters. on the defaulters as the regular tax payers are forced to shell out the difference amount of LBT due to shortfall in civic treasury which runs dry due to a paltry collection., much less than the expected figure.

It's the fallout of Earlier, civic chief Aseem Gupta was apprehensive about rounding up 's strong apprehension about rounding up the non-payers and had asked the regular payers to clear the difference amount at 2% flat rate, in accordance with the government rate structure.which varies from product to product., due to merger revenue inflow into civic treasury since a major chunk on traders preferring tax evasion as they used to practice during the octroi regime. However, a huge deficit, after almost nine months of LBT imposition, has forced him to take a stern call. Till date, TMC has managed Rs 305 crore from LBT, stamp duty and escort fees.

Rs 215 crore LBT has been collected as against the projected annual figure of over 500 crores. "We have been paying LBT @ 2% based on a mutual understanding with the civic commissioner as we had assured him to fill the coffer with this low rate while anticipating a cent percent turnout. But, Only 30% traders are paying now and evaders are more, leading to dismal collection.

If everybody comes under the tax net, the collection will surpass Rs 900 croreOnly 30% traders are paying regularly whereas rest is scot free," said Pauly Jimmy, a THAM member. According to LBT officials, out of 29,000 registered houses, only 12,000 traders make payments.

"Members are requested to register under LBT and pay accordingly so that the traders can ask the civic chief for a uniform rate with the advent of next fiscal," said THAM secretary Bhavesh Maru.

Sandeep Parekh, vice president of Thane Small Scale Industries Association, which is forms a major part in Tham, said, "We have urged the TMC to increase its manpower in the LBT section so that it can conduct regular raids on the defaultersand non-registered traders."

Dilip Dhole, TMC deputy commissioner and LBT head, said, "More than 8,000 traders are yet to be registered. A few thousands are not eligible for LBT as they purchase goods inside Thane city." A section among the 17, 000 traders come under non-payer and low payer. We will track the non-registered traders during the ensuing raids.

The  Indian Express              17.12.2013

Last date over, MC collects Rs 50 lakh as House Tax

The Municipal Corporation has collected around Rs 50 lakh as House Tax with December 15 being the last date for submission of the tax without imposition of interest. This is much below the estimate of Rs 2 crore that the civic body had expected to get.

It has now been decided that a recommendation of the MC House will be sought for extending the last date for submission. The recommendation will then be sent to the UT Administration for approval.

In fact, the recommendation for extending the date had been made by the House Tax committee at a meeting held last month. But legal opinion was sought on the same. It has now been decided that if the MC House gives its approval, the proposal will be sent to the UT Administration. It is the UT Administrator who is the final authority to give extension as an amendment to the byelaws will have to be made for this purpose.

The notification for imposition of the House Tax was issued in July this year. According to the notification, the residents were required to deposit tax between October 15 and December 15 at the rate of Re 1 per square yard. Thereafter, an interest of 20 per cent is to be imposed. The houses with area less than 5 marla as well as those in villages and colonies will be exempted from paying taxes. Exemption is also given to people from the economically weaker sections.

Mayor Subhash Chawla said that legal opinion on the issue was sought. "It has been recommended that permission for the same be taken from the MC House.

Thereafter, an extension can be given to the residents for depositing tax," he said.

Joint Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Rajiv Gupta said that permission for extension could only be given after approval from the administration. Till this is received, those depositing tax now will be required to pay 20 per cent interest.

The tax was imposed for fulfilling a condition under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). While property tax on commercial property had already been imposed a few years back, there were repeated reminders from the Centre for imposing tax on residential property as well. The tax is to be paid annually.

There are still ambiguities which the residents have been protesting about. One of the complaints is about the form to be filled out for depositing the tax. Several complaints have been received about the form being complex. Residents of the houses constructed by the Chandigarh Housing Board are protesting that their houses that are less than five marla are not being exempted from taxes. It is being said that when the tax has been imposed based on the area, exemption should be given to them.

The residents of the group housing societies have also expressed their apprehension about the manner in which tax is being calculated. For the societies, complete area of the society, including roads and parks, is being included in the calculation.

As per directions of the administration, the MC is also planning to enhance the rate of tax from next year.