Commercial property: BBMP to review self-assessment scheme

A large number of commercial properties may come under the BBMP’s scrutiny as it plans to take up a detailed verification of self-assessment declarations.

The move includes physically measuring properties to assess whether the owner is paying the right amount of tax. In the first phase, the civic body has identified around 2.6 lakh properties across Bengaluru.

“The rulebook mandates physical verification of 2% of the total properties every year but that’s not being done. This year, we are concentrating on re-evaluating commercial properties by keeping modification and construction plans as base documents. We will review a self-assessment scheme (SAS) to identify undervalued properties,” BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath told DH.

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Earlier this week, Girinath held a meeting with revenue officials to chalk out the plan. Through the exercise, the civic body hopes to meet its revenue collection target of Rs 4,412 crore, which is around Rs 650 crore higher than what it netted last year.

Revamping the property tax collection procedure was also mentioned in the BBMP’s 2023-24 budget. “The SAS returns will be compared with corresponding documents of other state agencies by using the required software. This is expected to lead to a substantial increase in property tax collection,” the budget copy stated.

Besides Bescom’s database, the BBMP is in touch with the Commercial Taxes Department to plug mischief by declaring commercial properties as residential buildings.

The BBMP chief said Bengaluru cannot be compared with a high-revenue-generating city like Mumbai as they earn a large chunk of revenue by providing a premium Floor Area Ratio (FAR), but the BBMP follows a different principle.

Explaining the procedures for re-verification of commercial properties, BBMP Special Commissioner (Revenue) Deepak R L said one type of buildings was being identified as they were tax-yielding. “We will undertake a fresh round of total station surveys to find out properties that are paying lower tax slab,” he said.

Last year, the BBMP found 8,906 properties paying property tax in the residential slab despite being in commercial use. The discrepancy came to light when the civic body cross-verified its data with Bescom. The exercise revealed property tax default to the tune of Rs 131 crore.

Revenue collection

2021-22 Rs 3,033 cr

2022-23 Rs 3,758 cr

2023-24 Rs 4,412 cr (target)