Property tax notices slapped on 14 entities to recover Rs 213 crore

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has served notices on 14 entities to recover property tax worth Rs 213.07 crore, according to data accessed by this newspaper. Among the names are big corporates.

Civic officials, who did not wish to be identified, told DNA that their respective wards have sought responses from the “defaulters” in three weeks’ time. The notices were despatched recently, they said.

According to BMC officials, these entities have been identified as “undisputed defaulter”. This means they do not have any legal issues over the levy.

Property tax is an amount that is to be paid by a landowner to the local government or the civic body of his area. 

The properties include land, residential buildings and commercial structures. 

The BMC’s list of defaulter runs into thousands and is released in April. So far, it is ready with a list of names that are yet to clear huge amounts. 

Hindustan Composites Ltd tops the list for 2017-18 with Rs 29.98 crore. The other names include Jet Airways (India) Ltd, an MMRDA building and few developers.

A senior BMC officer said, “We have introduced an early-bird scheme to pay property tax in which they get a rebate of 2 per cent and later 1 per cent. However, the scheme is mostly used by housing societies and single user. The commercial properties, non-residential buildings do not utilise this scheme. We lately observed a trend wherein the number of builders and developers have increased in the defaulters’ list. They intentionally do not pay taxes on time as to utilize that money.”

PROPERTY TAX

• It is an amount that is to be paid by a landowner to the local government or the civic body of his area. The properties include land, residential buildings and commercial structures. It is collected twice a year 
   
• Since 2010, property tax is being calculated as per capital value system, where tax varies according to the area, type of structure and user