City corporations allow manual, partial property tax payments till March 31 in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: In a relief to property owners facing glitches in the online tax system, city corporations across Bengaluru have decided to accept manual and partial property tax payments until March 31.

The move follows complaints from citizens and even government agencies that previous payments were not reflected in the online system, or that technical issues were preventing fresh transactions. In some cases, taxpayers risked making duplicate payments due to these discrepancies.

In a circular, GBA Special Commissioner (Revenue) Munish Moudgil authorised zonal Joint Commissioners to accept payments through demand drafts and allow partial settlements for properties with valid SAS (Self-Assessment Scheme) IDs. The directive aims to ensure that genuine taxpayers are not penalised due to system errors or delays.

The circular outlines three scenarios where this relaxation applies: when earlier payments are not reflected online, when technical issues prevent online transactions, and for payments by government departments or public sector undertakings.

To facilitate last-minute payments, all city corporation offices will remain open until 10 pm on March 31. Meanwhile, the online portal will continue to accept payments until 11.59 pm on the same day.

The decision is significant, as penalties and interest will be levied on unpaid dues after the financial year closes. The manual acceptance window is, therefore, seen as a stopgap measure to prevent revenue loss while addressing system inefficiencies.

The order also mandates strict documentation, including the issuance of proper acknowledgements and the maintenance of records for each transaction against property tax identification numbers.