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Taxation

Civic body revenue doubles in 7 years

Wednesday, 09 October 2013 04:08 administrator
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The Times of India                08.10.2013

Civic body revenue doubles in 7 years

SURAT: A marginal increase in property tax coupled with increase in user charges once in five years and a door to survey leading an increase in number of tax payers has resulted in Surat Municipal Corporation's (SMC) revenue going up more than double in just seven years. During the current financial year, SMC will earn more by way of property tax collection and user charges than the amount given by state government in lieu of octroi.

Octroi was abolished in 2007-08 when the civic body's revenue by way of property tax and user charge was to around Rs 280 crore. In that year SMC collected Rs 485 crore as octroi, which was nearly double than its tax collection. "In a way we depended on octroi income for our survival, existence and development. Our developmental work would have suffered if we had not taken steps to increase our revenue and bring about financial reforms," an official said.

In the last five years, the number of tax payers has increased from 14,16,500 to 16,52,700. While the number is up by 15 per cent, the revenue jump is more than 200 per cent. tnn

"We have reached a stage where our revenue from tax collection is higher than the money paid in lieu of octroi by the state government. This revenue will be realized year after year as more households are covered under property tax and user charges," the official said. The state government pays Rs 565 crore per annum to SMC in lieu of octroi and the amount has not risen in the last five years.

 

Traders pay Rs 11cr LBT to Sangli Miraj Kupwad municipal corporation

Monday, 07 October 2013 10:20 administrator
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The Times of India           07.10.2013 

Traders pay Rs 11cr LBT to Sangli Miraj Kupwad municipal corporation

KOLHAPUR: The Sangli Miraj Kupwad (SMK) municipal corporation on Sunday said that the civic body has recently received Rs 11.5 crore as local body tax (LBT) from traders in the city. The new tax system was introduced in May this year.

The civic administration said that the traders have slowly started submitting LBT. Earlier, the traders had decided not to pay tax under the new system.

SMK municipal corporation deputy commissioner Omprakash Divatay said that the civic body heard the grievances of more than 150 traders, who paid LBT. "Some of them have paid less due to some reasons. However, they have been asked to pay the remaining amount in the next few days to avoid facing any penalty," Divatay said.

"Notices were issued to liquor shops and restaurants serving alcohol, as they are major tax payers, followed by electrical and electronics equipment distributors. Garment and cloth merchants are big businessmen and major tax payers. The civic body does not have details of the traders, their business activities and turnover. Hence, the self-assessment clause was introduced in the new tax system. A trader is expected to assess his or her own business and pay tax," he added.

The SMK civic body was one of the last corporations to introduce the tax in areas under its jurisdiction. The traders had first opposed the tax structure, but more than 5,000 have businessmen have got enrolled for it. The corporation is expecting a similar number of traders to obtain their registration numbers and start paying the taxes. Divatay said the corporation has received total tax worth Rs 4 crore in this month.

Corporation officials said these traders would have paid Rs nine crore a month in the form of octroi, but have not paid the LBT in protest against the new tax structure. Earlier, the corporation had made several appeals to the traders for getting registered with the authority for tax payment, but only 50% have registered so far.

Civic officials also held awareness programmes for traders on calculation and assessment of taxes. LBT rules have put the onus of tax assessment on the traders, who earlier used to criticize that civic officials deliberately formulate higher amount of taxes.

 

GHMC hopes to rake in Rs 300 cr as profession tax

Monday, 07 October 2013 08:55 administrator
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The Times of India           07.10.2013 

GHMC hopes to rake in Rs 300 cr as profession tax

HYDERABAD: After initiating several measures like geographical information system (GIS)-based survey to bring unassessed properties into the property tax net, the GHMC is now eyeing the nearly Rs 300-crore profession tax pie.

Until last year, profession tax collection was with the commercial tax department and it was transferred to the corporation in November 2012 on the directions of the chief minister. Officials claim that though the profession tax demand was over Rs 300 crore per annum, it was getting only Rs 100 crore as the commercial taxes department was not concentrating on 100% collection as it was just another tax component for them.

The GHMC officials said as per commercial taxes department records, there were only 48,000 professionals, employees and traders paying profession tax in the core area of the corporation, while it could be more than a lakh. Similarly, only 15,000 lawyers have been paying the tax whereas the number of practicing advocates was over 30,000 in the city.

Now, in a bid to bring more professionals into the tax net, the GHMC has started building a database of various professions. Nearly, 20 types of professionals come under the tax net. Lawyers, doctors, architects, journalists, charted accountants, engineers, IT professionals and brokers who have been in the field for more than five years have to pay Rs 2,500 per annum.

Employees drawing between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 have to pay Rs 150 per month and people with salaries of more than Rs 20,000 have to pay Rs 200 per month.

Sources said the data would be collected from professional bodies like bar associations, Indian Institute of Architects, Indian Medical Association and other registered bodies of professionals. The existing data would be compared with data collected from different agencies. "As of now, the demand is Rs 15 crore to Rs 20 crore per month. After building the database and plugging holes, the profession tax demand may go up to Rs 25 to Rs 30 crore per month," GHMC additional commissioner (Finance) K Ashok Reddy told TOI.

Meanwhile, the GHMC has decided to ask the state government to transfer the entire tax amount to the corporation without any hitches. As of now, the commercial taxes was collecting profession tax amount and transferring it to the head of account of GHMC.

For transferring the profession tax to the civic body's account, the revenue department had put a clause that the corporation should get nod from the finance department to release the amount every quarter. However, the finance department has not been releasing the amount regularly, officials said. In the current financial year, the finance department has permitted to give only first quarter (April, May and June) of 2013 and the second quarter amount has not been released yet. During the last financial year (2012-13), it got only Rs 100 crore.

"The GHMC will write a letter to the state government to release profession tax amount every month instead of every quarter and also remove the clause of prior permission for release of the tax amount," Reddy said.

 
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