Kanchanjunga Housing has paid Rs 3.5 million out of over Rs 10 million it owed to Kathmandu Metropolitan City in back taxes.

After the company failed to clear its longstanding house and land taxes for the Thapathali-based Trade Tower, KMC had padlocked its office last week and warned to seal off the Trade Tower if it did not pay the taxes by Friday. 

The partial tax payment has secured the housing firm a temporary reprieve. KMC has shelved the plan to close down the Trade Tower for now, and allow the company to open the its office. 

Kanchanjunga Housing has pledged to pay up the remaining back taxes by the end of this fiscal year.

"This has been a successful endeavour for us. Finally, we have been able to collect at least a partial amount from them" said Mahesh Kafle, the chief of Revenue Department at KMC.

Earlier this month, KMC had recovered Rs 15.2 million from Bishal Bazar Company Limited in rent tax which had not been paid for the last 15 years.

The metropolis plans to take action against many more tax defaulters which include popular banks, hotels and shopping centres. 

"Next week we have planned to padlock more property tax defaulters who have ignored our repeated requests and warning letters" said Kafle. 

KMC has dispatched final warning letters to many defaulters to clear their house and land taxes that have crossed over Rs 10 million. Around 90 big institutions have asked for an extension of the cut-off date for tax clearance, while the KMC has specified no other deadline for the payments.

Prime commercial property owners including the proprietors of RB Complex, Karmachari Sanchaya Kosh Building and KL Tower owe about Rs 1.5 million each in taxes. The Nepal Electricity Authority has the highest amount of unpaid taxes of Rs 120 million. 

Ever since KMC began its tax recovery campaign in January, it has blacklisted 1,385 houses for defaulting on  taxes. Most of them were the operators of commercial complexes.

source: the kathmandu post,17 april 2014