The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has decided to extend the rebate window for the payment of property tax after property owners complained that they were unable to pay the tax online, officials of the civic body said.
The date till which the rebate will be available has been extended by seven days for all taxpayers.
Officials said different tax bills have different rebate dates. Several wards are clubbed together and given one rebate date, by which one has to pay the tax to get a discount.
The Telegraph reported on Wednesday that taxpayers had alleged that they were unable to pay the tax despite multiple attempts over several days.
“We have extended the rebate date by seven days for each bill. This has been done because taxpayers have been facing problems in paying taxes online,” said a KMC official. The taxpayers with rebate date from May 10 till June 19 will get the benefit.
“The original rebate date of May 10 has been extended to May 17. And the original rebate date of June 19 has been extended to June 26,” the official said.
An order issued by the KMC last week mentioned that “due to heavy rush on KMC portal… citizens of Kolkata are facing trouble to pay PD demand of property tax within scheduled time”.
The order added: “It is proposed to extend rebate dates… for 7 days on each occasion”.
An official said the proposal has been accepted and given effect.
The rebate date is mentioned on the tax bill that can be downloaded from the civic body’s website. Tax bills are also despatched to the registered address of the property owner.
The rebate date is generally 21 days from the presentation date, which is seven days after a bill has been despatched to the address of the taxpayer, said a KMC official.
Many taxpayers who faced problems in making online payments told this newspaper that they feared that if the glitches continued, they would not be able to pay the tax in time to get the rebate.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) offers a 5 per cent rebate on the property tax amount every quarter if the tax is paid by a specified date.
If anyone wants to pay the entire year’s property tax by the rebate date of the first quarter, he or she gets an additional rebate of 5 per cent.
The higher the tax, the higher the rebate, which is why many people are keen on paying the tax before the rebate deadline.
“The problem has been going on for several days and is still continuing,” admitted a KMC official.
A Ballygunge resident who had tried to pay the tax had told this newspaper that despite the money having been debited from his bank account, the KMC’s website flashed the message that the transaction was incomplete.
A Kasba resident said on Sunday that the website was “down” even around midnight when he tried to pay the tax. Another Kasba resident said when he tried to make the payment around noon on Saturday, the KMC’s website flashed a message requesting him to try again after 5pm.