The city Corporation, in a press release on Monday, addressed confusions regarding property tax payment for the public due to several changes that have happened in recent years.
The property tax was revised in April 2016, by changing the earlier system of calculating the tax based on the building's rental value to one based on the plinth area and type of use of the building. The entire building tax database was also shifted to an online platform in the past few years. An additional service cess of 10% has been added.
According to the Corporation authorities, it was quite natural for the public to have confusions about tax payment due to the above changes. Due to the change in the property tax calculation method, those who have been paying tax as per schedule might also end up with arrears. The records of some people might show outstanding amounts under service cess even if they have already paid the same due to an issue that cropped up during the shift to the online system.
Although the service cess had been collected since April 2016, it was done manually. However, when the system shifted online in 2018, there was no separate head for service cess in the system, due to which it was added under the property tax head as an advance amount. However, when the online system introduced a separate head for service cess in 2019, these amounts were erroneously shown as outstanding in the system.
