Market to open today; tax regime only for those who import.
Traders in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad areas decided to withdraw their indefinite bandh against local body tax (LBT) after successful negotiations with the state government in Mumbai on Monday.
Shops in the city remained closed during the day as the bandh entered the 13th day on Monday. The bandh was called off after the trader delegations had a three-hour-long discussion with chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Monday that ended at 10 pm.
Many shopkeepers opened their stores after Federation of Trade Associations of Pune (FTAP) president Popatlal Ostwal called off bandh on Monday evening. FTAP vice-president Suryakant Pathak said that all shops would be opened from Tuesday.
Chief secretary Jayant Kumar Banthia along with secretaries Manukumar Srivastava, Srikant Sinha and Nitin Kareer held a four-hour meeting with FTAP and other trader bodies in the afternoon in Mumbai.
Pune municipal commissioner Mahesh Pathak and his Pimpri-Chinchwad counterpart Shrikar Pardeshi participated in the meeting via videoconferencing from PMC Bhavan as Banthia insisted on including them in the discussion.
FTAP delegation was led by its president Popatlal Ostwal, vice-president Suryakant Pathak, treasurer Fattechand Ranka, secretary Mahendra Pitaliya, joint secretary Hemant Shaha, Manoj Sarda and Vijay Oswal. PCMC Traders’ federation president Gajanan Babar and Poona Merchant’s Chamber president Ajit Setiya were present.
Demands met
Sell bills mandatory for only those who seek refunds.
Limit for filing annual returns extended for three months.
Limit is for cities with population of 1.5 million or above.
Assessment would be done only for those who would receive notice from civic body in a year and they would have to maintain the account till the action is over.
A steering committee would be formed to address issues of traders regarding LBT.
The LBT assessment would be vested with municipal corporation and it would be done by either sales tax officers or retired sales tax officers.
LBT act has provision of filing criminal case for evading LBT of Rs200 or above, this provision would be amended and cases would be filed only if tax evasion is intentional The slab for filing cases will be decided after consulting law department.
If final product is made out of a city from raw material sent from a city then the LBT would be charged on only labour charges but decision in this regarding would be take only after consultation with the law department.
The LBT would be charged not on MRP but on the bill amount.
The LBT would also be charged on discount provided by the manufacturer company on a product.
Annual returns document is complicated and it would be simplified.
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