Mumbai: Property owners who fail to pay property tax will face a penalty of up to 2 per cent after December 31. This will be levied in line with the provisions of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act 1888, Section 202. As such, a monthly penalty will be levied on the outstanding amount.
Property tax is the main source of revenue for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. The civic assessor and collector department surpassed the collection target in 2021-22, with the collection being Rs5,792 crore compared to the estimate of Rs5,400 crore.
The civic body has set a target of Rs7,000 crore for 2022-23. It has till now received revenue of Rs2,070 crore.
The BMC issues property tax bills for a particular financial year in May. The deadline for paying 50 per cent of the tax is in August and the remaining 50 per cent is to be paid in December. Property owners gets three months from the time of receiving the bills to pay the tax. After 90 days, BMC sends reminders and notices to the defaulters. The penalty of 2 per cent is levied in case bills are not paid, said sources in the civic body. “The interest is levied on the outstanding property tax amount after the payment due date is over,” said Sunil Dhamne, joint municipal commissioner.
There is a revision in property tax every five years and this was supposed to be done in 2020. However, the revision was postponed for two years during covid pandemic. This year property tax rates were supposed to be revised by 18% which means that the revenue could have increased by Rs1,080 crore. However, the state government decided not to increase the property tax this year too.
The amount of the first half-yearly tax, as specified in the bill should be paid within three months from the date of service of the bill and the second half-yearly tax should be paid before December 31 of each year, according to the MMC Act 1888, Section 202.
