BBMP property tax OTS ends; double penalty from Dec 1

Bengaluru: There are two more days left for the one-time settlement opportunity given to BBMP property tax arrears to expire. The corporation, which was currently tired of not being able to recover the arrears despite issuing such a huge notice, is now worried that the target has not been reached even after giving OTS to property tax arrears. Meanwhile, the OTS opportunity given by the government has expired on November 30, and the corporation has warned that those who have not paid their taxes will face double the burden from December 1.

The corporation had declared war on those who were cheating BBMP by not paying property tax in Bengaluru. Meanwhile, the corporation, which had confiscated the properties of some taxpayers two to three months ago, had later allowed one-time settlement as per the instructions of the DCM. Currently, there are only two days left for the OTS opportunity to pay property tax arrears. Meanwhile, the corporation, which has collected only Rs 3,751 crore so far, has not reached the target of Rs 4 crore. BBMP Commissioner Tushar Girinath said that now, along with imposing a fine, those who have not yet paid property tax will be fined and the money will be recovered.

Under this scheme, the defaulters who have not paid their arrears have been given a discount of double the fine and interest that was being levied on property tax for eight months. The 5 percent discount given to property tax payers of the current year was given till June.

The countdown to the end of OTS has now begun for the corporation, which has a target of collecting Rs 5,210 crore by March, which has raised concerns about the measures to collect the arrears. The corporation, which has already issued notices to many tax defaulters, is now faced with the task of collecting the remaining tax dues by March.

So far, 6381 commercial shops have been locked and seized for non-payment of property tax and the work of collecting the dues has been done. In addition, 82,000 bank accounts of owners of residential and other properties with a large amount of property tax arrears have been linked to the BBMP bank account. Now that the OTS opportunity is also ending, it remains to be seen what further action the corporation will take against those who have not paid their tax arrears.