Your property tax has been revised

Your civic body may still not have fixed rates for the new property system it was supposed to have implemented from April 1, 2010, but when it does, you will have to pay with retrospective effect.

Your civic body may still not have fixed rates for the new property system it was supposed to have implemented from April 1, 2010, but when it does, you will have to pay with retrospective effect.

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So you can pay according to the old rates for now; later, you'll either have to cough up more or will be granted rebate, depending on the tax slab you fall in. The new rates will be based on the capital value of your property.

The state cabinet on Wednesday decided to issue an ordinance to amend the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act and the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act to authorise the BMC to make the new tax applicable from April 1.

The system could not kick in this April as the BMC was not ready with the requisite norms such as assigning rates depending on areas, property type and the age of the building.

The authorities are undertaking a survey of the number of properties; depending on that, each area, property type (residential or commercial) and type of construction would get a specific payable rate fixed as tax.

However, the proposed amendment states that instead of declaring the rate by next March as stated in the Act, the authorities can declare it as and when it is finalised for any area.

Earlier, property tax was computed on the basis of rent, which, for old buildings in South Mumbai, was frozen at amounts fixed in the 1940s.

The new structure devised by BMC will see a shift in calculation of the tax. It will now be based on the property's current market value, which will be more in the island city and slightly lesser in the suburbs.