The Calcutta Municipal Corporation has extended till February 28 the deadline for sending applications for a waiver on the penalty and interest for unpaid property tax, an official of the civic body said.

The earlier deadline was January 31.

The penalty and interest waiver scheme is for unpaid bills raised till March 31. The scheme, launched on October 1, 2020, does not offer any relief to property owners who have not paid the tax for the last three quarters of financial year 2020-21.

“We have extended the deadline for application for the waiver scheme. The earlier last date was January 31,” said an official of the CMC.

An application form has to be submitted to any treasury office of the CMC, an e-Calcutta citizen service centre or any common collection centre of the civic body. The list of the centres where the form can be submitted is available on the “e-Kolkata Citizen Service Centre” menu of the CMC’s website. The form can be downloaded from the website of the CMC — https://www.kmcgov.in/KMCPortal/jsp/KMCPortalHome1.jsp.

Those who want to download the form have to take the cursor to the “online services” option in the menu on the left side of the home page. Then one has to click on assessment collection>make online payment>waiver LOI 2020. The menu will open on the left side from where the application form can be downloaded.

“This scheme is not an automatic waiver on reaching the counter for payment. One has to apply to get benefits of the scheme,” said the official.

A bill with the total dues and the amount that has to be paid after the penalty and interest are waived will be given to the applicant at the CMC’s offices. The outstanding dues and the amount to be paid can also be ascertained from the CMC’s website.

According to terms of the scheme, defaulters who will clear their dues by February 28 will get the entire penalty and interest waived. Those who will pay their dues between March 1 and May 31 will have 60 per cent of the interest and 99 per cent of the penalty waived.

“The deadline for taking the full waiver remains the same. We have only extended the deadline for applications,” an official said.

The civic body, the official said, has received about Rs 180 crore of property tax dues till January 30. The total outstanding property tax is around Rs 2,500 crore.

“We are expecting more applications, which is why we have extended the deadline for applications,” said the official.