Kolkata Municipal Corporation has decided to increase property tax by 20 per cent for those properties whose tax has not been reassessed since 2012, civic officials said.
The property owners will be given a final chance to self-calculate their tax under the unit area assessment — the new system of tax calculation that was introduced in 2017 — and submit it to the KMC by December 13.
If they fail, their next tax bill will be prepared with a 20 per cent hike over the previous amount and it will be considered that they have shifted to the unit area assessment method.
The unit area assessment is different from the old method of tax calculation, where the tax of a property was decided based on its annual valuation.
Under the unit area assessment, property owners have the opportunity to calculate their tax. Only about 35 per cent of the city’s 8.5 lakh property tax payers have so far opted for the new system.
At some point in the future, the KMC plans to abandon the old method of tax calculation and calculate property tax only under the unit area assessment scheme.
This increase will for now spare property owners who have had a recent increase in their tax amount. Over the last several months, the KMC sent fresh bills with increased tax amounts to a large number of property owners.
A KMC official said those owners would not be burdened with another rise immediately.
“We have given enough opportunity to tax payers to shift to the unit area assessment. Deadlines have been extended time and again since 2017. People have got enough time,” said a KMC official.
“We have now decided that we will give a flat 20 per cent hike in tax and send the next tax bill. All those who have not converted to the new system and whose property tax have not been reassessed since 2012 will face the hike,” said a KMC official.
The property owners will have to raise objections with the KMC within a specified period if they do not agree with the new tax, but that process is a complicated one.
It’s more convenient to do self-assessment of tax by the December 13 deadline, officials said. The civic body is sending letters to tax payers who will be impacted.
A KMC official, however, admitted that some letters could reach owners a few days before the deadline ends.
A small number of people who have self-assessed their properties under the unit area assessment system are enjoying a reduction in the tax amount compared with what they had paid before, said a KMC official.
The unit area system, he said, is more rational and transparent as the tax varied from place to place. Taxpayers can enter the KMC’s website and download the self-assessment form (SAF).
From the home page they have to click on KMC departments>assessment and collection>unit area assessment. Property tax is supposed to undergo a reassessment every six years, but the KMC fails to do the reassessment for many properties on time.
Most owners, too, do not come forward for a reassessment of the tax.
“For now we are focussing only on those who have been paying the same tax since 2012. In the next phase, properties that have undergone reassessment since 2012 but have not shifted to the unit area assessment system will be sent fresh bills, but the increase for these properties will be lesser,” said an official.
A number of Kolkatans received bills from the KMC in the ongoing financial year with an increased tax amount.
These people are exempt from the December 13 deadline but they, too, will have to eventually shift to the unit area assessment.