The Times of India          07.11.2013

Buildings in corporation to get new TC numbers after 25 years

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The corporation numbers (TC numbers) of all residential and commercial buildings in the city will be changed as part of the upcoming property tax revision. The process will be undertaken by the revenue wing of the corporation after a gap of 25 years.

Till 1988, the civic body used to revise the TC numbers every five years as part of the revision in property tax. However, the numbers were not revised after 1993, when the property tax was revised for the last time. With the change in TC numbers, some of the buildings for which tax was not levied will also come under the ambit of property tax.

The revision of numbers will have major implications on religious buildings which were mentioned in the special local fund audit report filed in 2011-12. "Over the past few years many buildings had come up around those originally meant for religious purpose. With the assignment of new TC numbers, these buildings will be enlisted in the tax list which would considerably enhance the revenue of the corporation" said a revenue official.

The numbering is being introduced after revenue wards were converted into electoral wards following the process of delimitation. The city corporation has already finalized the draft copy of the road map prior to the revision of property tax in all the 100 wards.

As part of the process, the wards have been numbered and the numbering would start in the format 1/ including all the buildings in a single ward. The civic body is facing a staff crunch to undertake the elaborate process. The revenue wing has now only 60 bill-collectors for the purpose.

"We are planning to recruit more people on daily wage basis prior to the process. Since all the hundred wards need to be covered, it will take at least two months," said V S Padmakumar, chairman, works standing committee. A specially designed mini-plastic tablets will be used for tagging the numbers on each building.

At present, the tax is levied based on annual rental value prepared by revenue wing officials. Under the new system, it will switch to self-assessment by the property owner in which total plinth area will replace annual rental value.

With the road maps being ready, tax will be revised based on the width of roads that lead to each building. The entire corporation area has been divided into three zones; primary zone, secondary zone and tertiary zone as part of revising the tax. There will be deductions and increase depending on which zone the building falls in.

While there will be no deduction or increase in basic property tax for buildings coming under primary zone, there will 10% deduction in basic property tax in secondary zone. As for the tertiary zone, the deduction will be 20%.