GMC collects `23 cr advance tax

Guntur: Guntur Municipal Corporation collected advance tax of Rs.23-crore till Tuesday for the financial year 2019-20 from the property tax payers. Comparing to last year, officials collected 1.3 crore more this year. Special counters set up by the GMC worked till 11 pm because Tuesday is last date for the payment of the property tax in advance.

The officials are expecting that advance tax collection will touch Rs.24 crore. The house owners who pay advance tax up to Tuesday will get 5% rebate on the tax. The house owners who will advance tax from Wednesday will not get any rebate.

According to official sources in the GMC, there are 1.67 lakh assessments in Guntur city. Property tax demand is Rs.95 crore for private buildings, including government buildings, the GMC will get 157 crore property tax per annum. For the convenience of the tax payers, the GMC provided facility to pay advance tax with debit card and credit cards.

The GMC conducted campaign on the advance tax collections and sent SMSes alerts to the houses owners for advance tax collections and improved tax collections. Due to general elections, the GMC officials not concentrated on the advance tax collections. After completion of the general elections, the GMC commissioner Srikesh B Lathkar directed the officials to speed up advance tax collections and fixed the targets to the revenue officers. The demand for property tax per annum is Rs. 94-crore.