KDMC to hire pvt agency to collect tax from defaulting telecoms

Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) has decided to hire a private contractor to collect pending taxes from mobile tower companies.

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As per KDMC records, there are 482 mobile towers in Kalyan-Dombivli and the companies have defaulted ₹112.83 crore in tax till date.

“We have floated a tender to appoint a private consultant to collect the pending taxes from the mobile tower companies that are defaulting on taxes. Once the consultant is appointed, the tax recovery will improve,”said a KDMC official on condition of anonymity.

For the financial year 2019-20 the civic body has set a target of ₹450 crore in tax collections.

“If the pending taxes from mobile tower companies are recovered to some extent, it will be a major help to meet the target,”added the official.

Earlier in 2015, the civic body had initiated action against mobile tower companies for defaulting in tax payment. Around 36 companies faced action by the civic body and were sealed.

Out of the 482 mobile towers, only 125 of them have proper permissions to be operating in the city, said the KDMC official. While the rest 357 are unauthorised and do not have any permission from the town planning department of KDMC to function in the city.

Most of these towers are set up over terraces of buildings in the city without due permissions claim civic officials.

As of now the civic body has managed to collect just ₹4 crore from the mobile tower companies.

“Several mobile tower companies have approached the court claiming that they are here to provide service to the customers. This is the reason why the civic body is unable to take any strict action upon them even after they don’t have proper permissions. However we have decided to collect as much as tax from them through a private agency,”said the officer.

In the year 2018-19 the civic body collected ₹632 crore for property and water tax.