KMC offers property tax waiver in at least 15 cases

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has decided to waive property taxes in at least 15 cases after the taxpayers prayed for relief due to financial hardship.

The civic body is learnt to have recently approved the proposal for waiving property taxes in 15 cases. A total of 26 requests were received by the civic body out of which one applicant was absent and nine cases were deferred. Out of the 16 requests where applicants were present, one item was dropped by the Hardship Redressal Committee (HRC) and the remaining 15 requests were considered, according to KMC officials.

The civic body officials admitted that there is a clear financial implication on its treasury due to the reduction in the property tax but decided to go ahead with the waiver considering the plight of the taxpayers concerns.

One of the cases involves a hotel located at Marquis Street. The owners requested KMC to waive property tax demand for the financial year 2020-21 and 2021-22. They claimed that due to the impact of Covid pandemic, the occupancy levels at the hotel were negligible. It was stated that running such a hotel has substantial costs which led to financial hardship and losses in FY 2020-21 and 2021-22. The amount of outstanding property tax as on 05/08/2023 was Rs 1183055.

KMC decided that tax can be reduced upto 50 per cent against fresh bills and 50 per cent against periodic bills. It was finally decided that the applicant shall pay Rs 700000 in addition to the suspense balance Rs 233512.

In another case, KMC decided to waive the property tax of a cinema hall at 12/3 Kabitirtha Sarani. The applicant sought waiver of full interest and penalty amount since the applicant is “financially as well as physically unsound”.

The cinema hall has remained closed for a long time. The KMC decided that the applicant be just allowed to pay the principal amount Rs 66,76,279 and 25 per cent of interest amount Rs 3913371 in addition to the suspense balance of Rs 20,02,604.

Last month, KMC waived the surcharge on property tax for the Indian Council of Medical Research-NICED following a request from the administration.