Pune Municipal Corporation raids three shops for Local Body Tax evasion
Thursday, 21 November 2013 11:36
administrator
The Times of India 21.11.2013 Pune Municipal Corporation raids three shops for Local Body Tax evasion
PUNE: After the state government granted permission to raid trade and business establishments that have failed to pay Local Body Tax (LBT), the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Wednesday conducted its maiden raid since the tax was implemented in the city in April.
Vilas Kanade, joint commissioner of PMC's LBT department, said, "The civic body in June had asked the state urban development department to issue permission to raid shops if traders failed to pay LBT despite repeated appeals. On Wednesday afternoon, officials asked the PMC to go ahead with them. Accordingly, we conducted the first raids on three shops in a city mall in Yerawada."
The squad comprising twenty members, headed by Kanade, started the operation at 5pm. They found that the shops had purchased goods, but had not paid LBT. Civic officials checked the accounts of shops and calculated the tax amount and asked defaulters to pay the tax immediately. The raids will continue on LBT defaulters.
The state government had decided to replace octroi with LBT. The new tax structure came into force from April 1. All traders who import goods over Rs 5,000 have to register with the local civic body. Till date, the PMC has collected revenue of Rs 600 crore from LBT.
The civic body expected annual revenue of around Rs 1,657 crore from octroi this year. After the implementation of LBT, the civic body has been able to collect about Rs 101 crore every month, which will take its annual revenue to about Rs 1,212 crore.
Octroi, property tax and development charges were the main sources of revenue for the PMC. However, with LBT still in its nascent stage, the finance department team working on the 2014-15 budget has limited revenue sources.
The general body approved Rs 4,167.5 crore-budget for the 2013-14 fiscal. According to civic officials, the next year will be difficult as all these years about 40-42 % of the budget revenue came from octroi. Now, the civic body is not sure if the new tax mechanism will be able to match the octroi revenue.
Panchayats merged in 2009 to pay least building tax
Monday, 18 November 2013 11:19
administrator
The Times of India 18.11.2013 Panchayats merged in 2009 to pay least building tax
KOZHIKODE: The three grama panchayats which were merged with the Kozhikode corporation in 2009 will get to pay lower building taxes compared to other zones in the city.
The civic body has recommended that the state government fix a lower tax regime, applicable for areas falling under the tertiary zone, for the three areas.
The civic body has divided its 75 wards into three zones for tax collection. Buildings in areas where offices of government and semi government institutions, commercial complexes, markets, bus and railway stations, educational institutions and hospitals are located, fall in the primary zone. Areas next to the primary zone which have the potential for development fall in the secondary zone, whereas the remaining places are listed under the tertiary zone.
The civic body has decided to fix lower building tax rates for the grama panchayats of Beypore, Cheruvannur-Nallalam and Elathur which were merged to the civic body in 2009 through a government order and which now fall under the tertiary zone. The tax slabs will be similar to that of the nearby Feroke grama panchayat.
The finance standing committee headed by deputy mayor P T Abdul made the amendments in the rates, fixed on the basis of an order issued by the state government in 2011. The civic body will notify the new tax revision, which is being implemented in the city corporation limit after a long gap of 17 years, once the state government approves the recommendations of the finance standing committee for the tertiary zone.
Abdul Latheef said the civic body has recommended the lowest tax rates for the merged grama panchayats. "The finance standing committee has decided to recommend the government to fix the lowest tax rates for places under the three merged grama panchayats, as these areas have started receiving the benefits of the merger only recently. The government has fixed Rs 8 as minimum tax per square metre for a residential building in corporation areas according to the new tax slab, where as the standing committee has recommended Rs 7 for the three grama panchayats," he said.
"Similar modifications were made for hotels and restaurants above 100 square metres and shopping malls above 200 square metres in tertiary zones," he said. "The new tax regime will be imposed with retrospective effect from April 1, 2013 once the government approves the modifications recommended by the finance standing committee. The new tax rates will be notified soon after the government approves the submitted recommendations," said the deputy mayor.
|
Estimate running into Rs 2 crore, but MC only manages to collect Rs 9 lakh as house tax in a month
Saturday, 16 November 2013 08:53
administrator
The Indian Express 16.11.2013 Estimate running into Rs 2 crore, but MC only manages to collect Rs 9 lakh as house tax in a month City residents seem to be going slow when it comes to paying property
tax on residential property. A month after the process of collection
was initiated, the Municipal Corporation has collected around Rs 9 lakh
so far. The estimate by the civic body had pegged the collection at Rs 2
crore.
Self-assessment of the tax is to be done by the residents by December 14. Thereafter, the civic body will start imposing fine.
The notification of house tax was made by the UT Administration
on July 4. The tax has to be paid at the rate of Re 1 per sq yard for a
period of one year. Houses below five marla as well as those in villages
and colonies have been exempted from the ambit of taxes. Residents of
LIG houses are also exempt from the tax. There are around 81,000 houses
that fall under the ambit of house tax.
However, with half of the time for self-assessment already having
lapsed, collections have been dismal. MC Joint Commissioner Rajiv Gupta
insists that as the deadline is approaching, the number of people
depositing tax has increased. "In the initial week, the collection was
just a few thousand. Now it has picked up and is in lakhs. It is
expected to increase as the deadline approaches," says Gupta.
The residents of five-marla houses are required to pay Rs 125
while those owning six-marla houses will have to pay Rs 150 per year.
The amount is Rs 187.50 for 7.5-marla houses, Rs 200 for eight-marla, Rs
250 for 10-marla, Rs 275 for 11-marla, Rs 375 for 15-marla and Rs 500
for one-canal house.
The residents can download the form from the website of the
Municipal Corporation. The facility to pay the tax is available at the
e-sampark and gram sampark centres. At these centres, the residents will
have to pay Rs 9 and Rs 4 respectively as transaction charges. In case
of non-payment of tax within the stipulated time, the defaulters will
have to pay 25 per cent extra along with an interest at 12 per cent or
as amended. The rate of interest will be applicable and payable till the
end of the month in which payment is made.
The house tax was imposed for fulfilling a condition under the
Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The UT
Administration had been sending repeated reminders to the MC for
imposing tax. It was approved by the MC House in February this year
amidst a ruckus. The administration had also directed the MC to review
the amount of tax being charged. A report for the same has been prepared
wherein a 20 per cent hike in the tax rate has been proposed.
PMC looks for ways to increase LBT revenue
Thursday, 14 November 2013 06:08
administrator
The Indian Express 14.11.2013 PMC looks for ways to increase LBT revenue LAGGING far behind in reaching the half mark of revenue collection
estimate of budget in first six months of the financial year, the PMC
has geared up to increase revenue collection from local body tax (LBT)
by seeking information from various state government authorities,
including RTO, sales tax, stamps and registration office, to ascertain
the transactions by traders.
"The revenue collection in the first six months is low and has
raised concern of the civic administration. Thus, it has been decided to
boost the revenue collection by taking help of other government
authorities to ascertain the business in various sector and accordingly
recover LBT from traders. The details of automobile sector would be
sought from RTO while information from registration office would reveal
details of real estate business and sales tax data would enable
information on business of consumer goods," said Vishal Tambe,
chairperson of the standing committee.
He said the civic administration will analyse the data and
initiate necessary steps to recover LBT from traders. "The traders would
be penalised for not depositing LBT as per the business," Tambe said.
The standing committee chairperson further said that the
administration would also undertake a special drive from from November
15 to December 31 to identify unassessed properties in the city.
"Efforts would be made to bring unassessed properties in the tax ambit
and increase the collection from property tax," he said.
Recently, the civic chief had directed all civic departments to
be careful in spending funds with an appeal to start new projects only
if they are very necessary. The civic administration had projected a
shortage of Rs 1,000 crore of the Rs 4,167 crore budget.
|
