BBMP to meet NIC, bank officials again over property tax payment snag

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will have another meeting with banks and National Informatics Centre officials to sort out the problem in property tax collection.

The BBMP portal is facing certain problems due to which tax collection has not gained momentum despite 5% concession on payment till April 30. While there is a login problem for paying taxes online, banks are not yet prepared to handle the rush.
In addition, the BBMP is not able to adjust the arrears of those who had paid excess last year without waiting for BBMP’s rollback in the tax rates and reclassification of tax zones.

The chairman of BBMP’s standing committee on taxation and finance, M K Gunashekar, had a meeting with the NIC director on Friday where the problems confronted by the citizens were discussed. Another meeting will be held on April 13 where bank officials will also be present along with NIC officials.

“We are going to have a good decision on April 13 pertaining to tax collection. We will have a decentralised tax collection system,” said Gunashekar. Sources in the BBMP said the deadline for availing 5% concession in the property tax may be extended till May too.

Meanwhile, more complaints pertaining to the property tax payment have started pouring in. Rathi Raghunathan from Koramangala said she had paid the tax in April 2016 before the rollback in the taxation zone reclassification and reduction in tax hike. She paid almost double the tax she had paid in 2015-16.

Due to the withdrawal of tax zone reclassification, the payable tax came down. The Palike said the arrears of those who paid the taxes for 2016-17 before the withdrawal of zonal reclassification will be adjusted. However, when she went to pay her tax, the arrears were not deducted.

She said the palike has not addressed her problem as yet while eight days of the deadline for availing 5% concession have lapsed.