BBMP to recover crores in tax dues from malls by attaching bank accounts

BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has planned to recover tax from malls, running into several crores, by attaching their bank accounts

Many malls in the city have long-pending tax arrears, including Mantri Square Mall (Rs 33 crore), GT World Mall (Rs 5.5 crore), Swagath Garuda Mall (Rs 96 crore), More Megastore (Rs 38 lakh), Bangalore Central (Rs 2.46 crore), Virginia Mall (Rs 12 crore), Hyper City Mall (Rs 48 lakh), Phoenix Market City (Rs 2 crore), and VR Mall (Rs 7 crore), Vega City Mall (Rs 2 crore), Forum Mall (Rs 72 lakh), and Royal Meenakshi Mall (Rs 2 crore).

The BBMP has planned to collect long-pending tax dues through attachment of bank accounts.

The BBMP has identified a total of 44 malls which have tax arrears. Of these, about nine malls have dues of over Rs 50 crore. The corporation had earlier sent many notices and had taken action like shutting down the malls, but the court had directed the Palike that the public should not be inconvenienced. Hence, the officials have now decided to recover the tax arrears through bank account attachment.

“The main source of the Palike’s revenue is through commercial properties, malls and businesses. We have identified 44 malls and worked to collect most of the dues. As per our records, about nine malls have Rs 50–60 crore in tax dues each”, said BBMP Special Commissioner Deepak.

Deepak, BBMP Special Commissioner

“In the BBMP Act, there is a provision for attachment of bank accounts, but no one has enforced it till now. We are planning to use it for the first time. After discussing it with the legal team and the Chief Commissioner, we have issued a circular. We have mentioned various step and, as a last resort, we have planned attachment of bank account of malls. This is a way to recover dues. In legal terms, it is called coercive measures”, he added.