The Hindu 05.04.2013
Underreporting hits property tax dues
BBMP begins survey of large campuses, apartment complexes, tech parks, malls.
Serious about recovering property tax dues, the Bruhat
Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is already surveying large campuses,
including apartment complexes, IT companies, business parks, hospitals,
malls and clubs.
On survey and verification, the BBMP
officials have found huge differences in tax paid under Self Assessment
Scheme (SAS) and the actual tax amount, given the built-up area.
According to a press release, just from two properties — Golf Links in
Challaghatta and Vrindavan Tech Village in Mahadevapura — the tax dues
amount to around Rs. 64 crore.
The release said that
the built-up area of Golf Link is 76.8 lakh sq ft, while the built-up
area declared under SAS was only 49.97 lakh sq ft. The difference is
around 26.83 lakh sq ft and each year, the BBMP was being cheated of Rs.
6.84 lakh property tax. The tax dues from this property, including
penalty from 2008-09 to 2012-13, adds up to Rs. 34.24 crore.
Similarly,
while the built-up area of Vrindavan Tech Village declared under SAS is
11.35 lakh sq ft, on physical verification, the BBMP found that it was
actually 28.16 lakh sq ft. The dues from this property amount to Rs.
29.36 crore, including penalties.
BBMP Commissioner
Siddaiah said that these tax dues from just the major campuses in the
city amount to a whopping Rs. 576 crore. He said that since the SAS tax
system was introduced in 2008-09, the BBMP had not taken up verification
of property tax of any property in the city. “As per the Karnataka
Municipal Corporations Act, the BBMP could have taken up verification of
10 per cent of properties. However, even two or three per cent has not
been achieved,” he said.
He also said that the BBMP
would sign a memorandum of understanding with the Visvesvaraya
Technological University on April 6 (Saturday) to utilise the services
of the architecture students for the verification of the high-value
properties in the city.
Other than this, the BBMP
will also be integrating the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company’s RR
numbers and Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board’s water meter
numbers with the unique property identity (PID) numbers. Over 16 lakh
properties have been captured by the geographical information system and
given unique PID.
