Deadline on March 31, 67,000 yet to pay property tax in Ludhiana

Out of these, over 67,000 property owners in Ludhiana are yet to pay the tax as of now. They will have to pay a 20% penalty and 18% annual interest on payment of property tax after March 31, said the officials. Among those who paid their property tax this year include over 11,000 first-timers.

With just a day left to deposit the property tax without additional penalty and interest, 67,000 property owners are yet to deposit their taxes to the Municipal Corporation (MC). The last date to deposit the property tax for the current year (2022-23) is March 31 after which an additional 10% penalty and 18% interest on delayed payment will be charged by the MC. Civic body officials said that as per the record available with the MC, there are around 2.3 lakh taxable properties in the city.

With just a day left to deposit the property tax without additional penalty and interest, 67,000 property owners are yet to deposit their taxes to the Municipal Corporation (MC). The last date to deposit the property tax for the current year (2022-23) is March 31 after which an additional 10% penalty and 18% interest on delayed payment will be charged by the MC. (HT File Photo)

Out of these, over 67,000 property owners are yet to pay the tax as of now. They will have to pay a 20% penalty and 18% annual interest on payment of tax after March 31, said the officials. Among those who paid their property tax this year include over 11,000 first-timers.

In a bid to facilitate the residents, the civic body had decided to keep the Suvidha Kendras in all four zonal offices open during working hours on weekends and government holidays along with the weekdays.

Vivek Sharma, Municipal Corporation superintendent said, “We have the contacts of around 1,20,000 property taxpayers in our database. Those who deposited the taxes last year but still have not paid the same are being notified through text messages to file the same.”

MC officials said that those who are yet to pay their property taxes include government departments, including the district commissioner’s office and the police department.

They added that notices regarding the recovery to the government departments and other commercial establishments were sent on Thursday. The pending property tax from government departments totals up to ₹22 crore.

Second-last day sees rush

As the helpdesks to deposit the property tax offline at Suvidha Kendra and MC offices were functional despite government holiday on Friday, a huge rush of residents was seen at the facilities.

MC commissioner Shena Aggarwal said that strict action will be taken against the establishments that would default on their property tax. The Municipal Corporation had sealed the properties that have not cleared their dues since 2013-14.

As per the estimated budget for the year 2022-2023, the civic body breached the target of ₹100 crore collection from the property tax and is expected to earn ₹115 crore by March 31. The estimates in the budget for income from property tax were also raised from ₹115 crore to ₹120 crores.

The officials stated that the residents can avail 10% rebate on payment of property tax for the current financial year by September 30. No penalty is imposed on the payment of tax from October 1 to December 31. The department imposes a 10% penalty on payment of tax from January 1 to March 31. The penalty is increased to 20% and 18% annual interest is also imposed if the residents fail to pay tax for the current year by March 31.