KATHMANDU: Finance Minister Rameshwar Khanal has said that some tax-related services provided by the Taxpayer Service Office will be started at the local level.

Addressing the 11th meeting of the Intergovernmental Fiscal Council on Friday, Minister Khanal, who is also the coordinator of the council, said that arrangements have been made to start some tax-related services provided by the Taxpayer Service Office at the local level.

He said that taxpayers will receive services at the local level, which also increase the revenue generation capacity of the local levels.

He expressed the view that the provinces and local levels are independent and responsible for budget preparation and implementation.

During the program, the Finance Ministers of all seven provinces jointly prepared a declaration related to fiscal federalism and submitted it to the Federal Finance Minister for facilitation of its implementation.

On the occasion, the chairpersons of the Municipalities Association of Nepal and the National Association of Rural Municipalities in Nepal, along with representatives of various municipalities, emphasized that the fiscal equalization grant should be received as allocated and that legal and procedural issues related to the implementation of fiscal federalism should be resolved soon.