Homestay owner to move court over tax issues

KOCHI: Paul Cherian, theowner of a 130-year-old homestay, is to move the court soon. His ordeal began when Cherian decided to protect his ancestral home Narikulam Tharavadu, the traditional naalukettubuilt in 1882. It is now at a point where a revenue recovery action is about to be taken by the Nayarambalam panchayat due to nonpayment of taxes. These taxes were calculated under commercial/resort tariffs.
“The ancestral home which is 4,600 sq ft is where my family and I reside, and under the Grihasthali scheme, we are entitled to run the house as a homestay as well.Though in such cases homestays normally should come under home tariffs for taxes, our home was categorized under resort tariff once we had renovated and repaired the building as per the Grihasthali scheme, which is unreasonable,” Cherian said.
He had approached the tourism department seeking to revert his house back to home tariff for taxes. However, the department officials said that the case falls under the purview of LSGDs.
“We have decided to convene a combined meeting of the tourism minister and LSGD minister with the senior officials of the two departments for a solution. The meeting will be convened in the first week of April,” a correspondence from the department of tourism stated.
However, since the meeting got delayed indefinitely, the panchayat moved for revenue recovery action, following which Cherian petitioned to the district collector.
“I spent nearly Rs 14 lakh for the maintenance and renovation of the heritage structure with the promise of Rs 5 lakh subsidy by the government under the Grihasthali scheme. I received the amount after countless visits to many government offices, which spanned around four-and-a-half years. And now in the name of ‘resort tax’ for a home we are staying in, I am asked to pay Rs 58,000 – an amount calculated per the resort tax tariffs,” Cherian said.
Further to the petition, Cherian will be moving the court to fix the tariff issue plaguing the homestay sector, demanding tax exemption for ancient homestay properties.
Tariffs of various taxes pertaining to homestays being calculated under commercial tariffs have been a regular cause of concern that prevented people from coming forward to start the services despite the government’s proposal to promote homestays in the state.