Over 40,000 apartment owners, who are paying ‘excessive’ property tax, would be benefitted if a proposal of the Kochi Corporation gets approved by the government.
Till recently, the property tax of the apartment units was assessed on the basis of Annual Rental Value (ARV) of the building. The ARV is usually applied for fixing the property tax of commercial buildings and it is higher than the tax levied for residential buildings. The tax paid by commercial apartment units was found to be at least 2.5 per cent higher than what was levied from residential units in the city.
If the new assessment mechanism comes into force, the apartment units would be assessed as residential units and tax based on its plinth area. This system is expected to benefit apartment owners as the tax will be considerably lower.
The Kochi Corporation has approached the State government with a request not to enforce the mandatory 25 per cent tax hike for the apartment owners who are now paying tax at a higher rate. A hike in tax for those who are forced to pay excess tax for no fault of theirs cannot be justified. Hence, the suggestion for exempting them from the tax hike, pointed out a civic administrator.
The local body has also requested the State government to allow the apartment owners to remit the tax at the rate in which they have been assessed, if not imposing a hike in rate.
It is estimated that there are around 400 huge residential complexes in the city with an average 100 apartment units in each of them. If the government accepts the suggestions of the local body, it would come as a relief to the apartment owners, said an official.
The local body is also exploring steps to provide some relief to the apartment owners in the city at its own level. Discussions will be held in the Kochi Corporation level after some concrete steps are formulated, said Kochi Mayor Tony Chammany.
