Civic body invites CAs to monitor LBT returns

NASHIK: The civic body has decided to appoint a panel of chartered accountants (CA) for detail audit, scrutiny and assessment of annual returns filed by dealers under the local body tax (LBT). An Expression of Interest (EoI) has been invited from CA firms by the civic body.
The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) collects LBT from registered dealers on a monthly basis.The NMC began collecting LBT from May 22 last year following state government's decision to scrap octroi.
The LBT is paid by local dealers on a self-declaration basis and necessary challans are presented by the dealers to the LBT department monthly. The dealers submit returns with details of purchase and sale of goods along with the turnover to the civic body annually. At present, there are 29,675 registered dealers for LBT. The new tax system had generated revenue of only Rs 663 crore in 2013. This year, Rs 218 crore has been collected till date. The NMC collected revenue worth Rs 695 crore through octroi.
"There may be some discrepancies in paying LBT; not all traders are paying the tax. We will definitely generate more revenue and may be even as much as that collected through octroi if everyone paid the tax," said an NMC official.
To bring about transparency in the system, the civic body has decided to appoint a panel of a minimum of eight CA firms for a detailed audit, scrutiny and assessment of the annual returns on behalf of the NMC.
The Eol was invited a day before chief minister Prithviraj Chavan directed the municipal corporations to decide if they wanted to implement LBT or octroi.
"In case the NMC decides to bring back octroi in place of LBT, then this EoI can be cancelled. But the decision will be taken by the general body of the civic body and there is still time for it," said deputy municipal commissioner (LBT) Haribhau Phadol.