It has been found that around two lakhs taxpayers are not regularly paying tax in Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). As informed, two lakhs out of three lakh 12 thousands taxpayers registered at KMC are not regularly paying tax.

According to the KMC Revenue Department, the metropolis is preparing to ramp up ward-level monitoring to bring taxpayers dillydallying to pay tax without coming to the registration process for a long time in accordance with the rules. About 100,000 taxpayers are among those showing reluctance to pay rent-related taxes.

Similarly, the number of taxpayers found unwilling to pay business tax, entertainment tax, and advertisement tax exceeds 100,000, said KMC Revenue Department Chief Dhruv Kafle. According to him, the KMC is preparing to bring the unregistered taxpayers of all categories into the process by regularly monitoring from this month onward to increase tax compliance.

Kafle said that arrears amounting to Rs 2 billion are yet to be recovered from the registered taxpayers at KMC. The dues have remained for the last 12 years, KMC sources said. The metropolis had set an annual revenue target of Rs 10.80 billion for the current fiscal year.

It has so far been able to collect only Rs 5.80 billion in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. Though its revenue collection status was satisfactory until the first six months of the fiscal year, KMC’s revenue in the last month (mid-January to mid-February 2024) has dropped compared to other months.