Property owners planning to apply for mutation, a waiver of the outstanding dues or simply seeking relief from ‘unjustified’ demands, get ready to switch to the UAA mode. Or else, the KMC assessment department will do it on its own. The KMC revenue department is set to launch a city-wide drive to bring the property tax payers under the UAA net.
Apart from sending notices to the taxpayers reminding them to switch to the UAA system, the civic body’s assessment wing has adopted a ‘forced conversion’ route to speed up the conversion process. “We have given clear instructions to our officials in the assessment department to expedite the process of bringing the existing property taxpayers under the UAA regime.
We have made it a norm that if a taxpayer applies for mutation of his/her properties, the applicant first needs to switch to the UAA mode. Only then will we allow the mutation. Similarly, if a property taxpayer wants to settle a tax related claim, we will make sure that the applicant is agreeable to a switch to the UAA,” said a KMC revenue department official.
The notices which are being sent to the taxpayers warn them against payment of penalties in case they don’t apply for the UAA. “Armed with an amendment, now we can impose an annual 5% penalty on the taxpayers who won’t switch to the UAA. Before imposing such a penalty, we will send our inspectors to the taxpayers at the housing complexes or apartment buildings with an appeal to switch to the UAA. In case, the residents of high-rises or housing complexes find it difficult to fill up the self-assessment forms, our inspectors will extend their help,” said a KMC assessment department official.
All a taxpayer needs to do to switch to the UAA is fill up a self-assessment form (SAF) giving details about his/her properties. Once the SAF is submitted at the KMC assessment department, the department officials will calculate the annual property tax based on the UAA norms. But, to make more taxpayers to accept UAA, the civic brass has decided not to increase the property tax more than 20% of the current amount.
“From our interaction with the taxpayers we know that a sizeable portion of taxpayers are hesitating to switch to the UAA for the fear of an unusual hike in the rate. But we won’t burden the taxpayers and will not increase the amount more than 20% from the current rate,” said a KMC assessment department official.
