Property tax revision effective from 2016

Change of revision year from 2013 brings relief to public

The Local Self-Government Department has decided to make the revision of property tax retrospectively effective only from the year 2016 onwards, instead of the existing 2013.

The move brings much cheer to the public, but the move comes as a blow for local bodies which have been looking at ways to improve their revenues post the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax.

The department had in 2015 decided to revise the property tax structure based on plinth area, retrospective from 1 April, 2013 onwards. The local bodies had completed the paper work and began issuing demand notices to the public from last year onwards. But the huge amount in tax bills from 2013 onwards had caused difficulties to many. Complaints regarding the same had piled up at various local bodies over the past few months.

Following this, the Urban Affairs Director recommended that the period from which the tax will be collected can be changed to 1 April, 2016. The arrears of property tax, service cess and library cess can be paid without fine, either in full or in five instalments over 10 months from March 1 this year.

Work completed

Twenty two municipalities and one Corporation have already completed all the work related to tax revision. Many other municipalities and corporations had also issued demand notices to a large number of residents and begun collecting the extra property tax from 2013 onwards.

The extra amount collected will now be adjusted against the property tax of succeeding years.

The urban local bodies have experienced a fall in revenue following the implementation of GST as major revenue sources like entertainment tax are no longer in its control. Even though the annual compensation for entertainment tax foregone has come as a relief, the local bodies have still been on the lookout for more revenue sources.

“We had already issued demand notices in 70 out of the 100 wards. Many had already remitted the tax from 2013 onwards. Since it involves arrears of a few years, it was a considerable gain for the Corporation. Now with the new order, there will certainly be some fall in revenue,” says a revenue official of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.

The LSG Department has directed all local body secretaries to complete the data collection of all buildings in its area, data entry, verification and approval before September this year.