Bill to settle tax arrears of several hotels passed in Assembly

Kolkata: The West Bengal Entertainments and Luxuries (Hotels and Restaurants) Tax (Settlement of Dispute) Bill, 2024 was passed in the Assembly which will enable the state government to settle disputes, realising arrear taxes, dues and penalty with interests.

The Bill has been framed with an objective of collecting the pending taxes, said state Finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya in the Assembly on Wednesday while discussing the Bill. The minister also added that there have been several disputes with the hotels and restaurants regarding entertainment and luxury tax since 2017.

According to government data there are cases against 900 hotels and restaurants. The total number of cases is 5,900. Taxes of around Rs 14.59 crore are still pending. Accumulated penalty and interest on the tax would be around Rs 7.27 crore. The total due stood at Rs 21.86 crore. The state government is ready to waive the penalty and interest provided the hotels and restaurants pay the tax. The deadline for paying the pending tax was September 30 but that has been extended to March 31.