Kolhapur Municipal Corporation sensitizes traders on Amnesty scheme

The Kolhapur Municipal Corporation organised an awareness seminar on Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Local Body Tax Amnesty Scheme on 7^th July 2015. The Amnesty Scheme provides an opportunity to the traders, who have not paid LBT, to remit their dues without penalty and interest. The corporation has appealed the trader community to remit their LBT dues till 31^st July 2015.

Giving major relief to traders, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, on 12 May, announced the Amnesty scheme for those traders who have defaulted their LBT. As per the scheme, the government will waive off the fine and interest if a trader pays all the pending dues within the deadline. The Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Local Body Tax Amnesty Scheme 2015, which came into effect on 3^rd June is valid till 31^st July 2015. Traders will not be eligible to claim benefit of the scheme if they file returns and pay tax after the said deadline.

Ramchandra Katkar, LBT officer in Kolhapur Municipal Corporation said that the local body was taking all efforts to spread awareness about the scheme among the traders. He appealed traders to cooperate with the corporation and remit their LBT to avoid the penalty and punishment. He also asked the traders to take maximum benefit of the said scheme.

“As per the Amnesty Scheme, penalty and interest on accumulated dues of LBT will be waived, subject to fulfillment of conditions, such as registration, payment of tax and filing of returns. The information about the scheme and online return forms are available on the website of the corporation. Members can reach out to the LBT officers for any clarification,” he said.

Shrenik Bingade, president of Computer Association of Kolhapur (CAK) said that the Amnesty scheme has provided an ease to the traders. However, he said that the government was needed to work towards simplifying the taxes by making it trader friendly.

 LBT has been the matter of concern for the trader community since its introduction in the state. Traders have alleged that the provisions in the LBT lead to corruption and harassment from civic authorities and demanded scrapping of the tax. Various traders’ associations have resorted to agitations against implementation of LBT and many traders have stopped paying the tax.

Acknowledging the growing annoyance among the trader community, CM Devendra Fadnavis announced to scrap the LBT from 1^st August 2015. However, it has maintained that those traders who have not paid their LBT dues till March 31 will have to remit their dues. Thus, in order to recover the pending LBT dues and save the local bodies from huge revenue loss, the Maharashtra government has introduced the Amnesty Scheme.

The scheme is implemented in various Municipal Corporations within the state of Maharashtra as per the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act (MMC Act). It is applicable to registered as well as non-registered traders provided they get registered during the prescribed time period. The government hopes that the move would help civic bodies to overcome their financial crunch.