NMC freezes bank accounts of 3,907 to recover Rs 388 crore local body tax dues
Deputy Municipal Commissioner Milind Meshram has informed that the NMC has collected the bank account data submitted by the traders to the VAT department.
Nagpur: The cash-strapped NMC has also frozen the bank accounts of around 3,907 traders in the city to recover local body tax dues (LBT), which collectively amount to around Rs 387.58 crore.
Deputy Municipal Commissioner Milind Meshram has informed that the NMC has collected the bank account data submitted by the traders to the VAT department. “NMC has approached the Sales Tax and GST departments to share the bank account numbers of those dealers whose details are not available with the local body tax department of NMC,” They said.
Subsequently, over the last several months, NMC approached various banks requesting them to freeze these accounts. Milind Meshram has also stated that Nagpur Municipal Corporation has given every opportunity available under the rules to the defaulters to clear the dues.
The Maharashtra government abolished local body tax in August 2015, but pending assessment and recovery of dues had not taken place at all. And since then NMC is struggling to recover LBT from the defaulter traders.
As per the data received from NMC, there are around 1,27,675 dealers in the corporation limits, out of which only 55,553 have filed the mandatory returns.
Outstanding LBT on these traders works out to around Rs 1,036 crore
After examining the documents received from Sales Tax Department and files received through Chartered Accountant Nagpur Municipal Corporation had issued assessment orders against 45,456 files of traders and also demanded Rs 3,134 crore as LBT. Out of them, only 37,309 have cleared LBT which is around Rs 39.73 crore.
After this, the total pending LBT cases become around 8,147. Out of them, 3,517 traders have either filed an appeal or approached the court. The outstanding LBT on these traders works out to around Rs 1,036 crore.
“In addition, the NMC has also initiated the process of confiscation of properties of 1,070 traders who have not paid LBT 252.24 crore using Revenue Recovery Certificates,” Milind Meshram said.
It has also come to the fore that these 1,070 traders had not submitted bank details at all and their dues had reached Rs 252 crore. Right now the department has submitted RRCs (Revenue Recovery Certificates) to all the Assistant Municipal Commissioners to go ahead with the confiscation and auction of properties for recovery of dues.
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