BBMP readies 3 lakh notices for owners under-assessing properties
Last year, BBMP introduced the one-time settlement scheme for property tax defaulters.
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In the notices, the BBMP will direct the property owners to pay tax for the total extent of the building, apart from levying penalties for the same.In a crackdown on building owners under-assessing their properties and paying less tax to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the civic body has decided to soon serve notices to around 2.5-3 lakh properties.
The notices will come along with fines for concealing the true extent of the built-up area. According to Munish Moudgil, Special Commissioner (Revenue), the BBMP used drones to verify the extent of property declared by the owner under the self-assessment scheme and found that many had under-declared. “Based on this, we will issue notices to property owners and ask them to pay the tax dues,” he said.
According to sources, flaws were detected in almost a sixth of the 20 lakh properties self-assessed by their owners. For instance, under the Self-Assessment Scheme (SAS), a building with five floors had declared it as having only three floors. This was flagged during the drone survey carried out by BBMP in the city limits.
In the notices, the BBMP will direct the property owners to pay tax for the total extent of the building, apart from levying penalties for the same. The civic agency could also go for a one-time settlement (OTS) scheme to clear the dues of these property owners, as it did with the property tax defaulters last year, sources added.
The SAS, introduced in 2008, has been marred by several issues. In 2022, erstwhile BBMP – now Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) – was flooded with complaints after thousands of property owners were served notices on account of wrong zonal classifications in the SAS portal.
Last year, BBMP introduced the OTS scheme for property tax defaulters. Around 3.81 lakh property owners were found to have defaulted on their taxes and were provided a chance to pay by waiving compound interest on arrears and reducing penalties by 50 per cent.
The crackdown on under-assessment of properties is expected to generate additional revenue for BBMP, which has a revenue target of around Rs 5,700 crore for the 2025-26 fiscal.
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