One Time Settlement scheme to end on Nov 30, BBMP yet to collect over ₹550 crore property tax dues

Over 2 lakh tax defaulters in Bengaluru avail BBMP's OTS scheme, with the civic agency collecting about ₹670 crore dues.

About 2 lakh tax defaulters have availed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) One Time Settlement (OTS) scheme for payment of property tax, which will be ending on November 30. 

A senior BBMP official talking to The Hindu said about 3.95 lakh people are on the list of tax defaulters and the response was below the expectation of the BBMP.

Under this scheme, the defaulters can pay the pending dues without any interest and penalty. In many cases, penalty and compounding interest put together runs into crores.

BBMP Special Commissioner (Revenue) Munish Moudgil said so far, the civic body has collected about ₹670 crore and about ₹550 crore is still pending. Mr. Moudgil said while more than half of the total pending tax has been paid by the defaulters, the BBMP has not reached its target. He said last few days have also seen a lull in terms of payments and people who want to avoid penalties have to complete the payment on Saturday. 

Launched in February, the OTS scheme provides significant relief by waiving compounding interest on arrears and reducing penalties by 50%. Initially set to expire in July, the scheme was first extended to the end of September. Later, on demand, it was again extended to November 30. To boost collection, the BBMP had also carried out door-to-door visits educating the defaulters and others about the scheme.

A few tax defaulters to whom The Hindu spoke, claimed that there are some errors in calculation and the BBMP officials have not been responsive. “The BBMP has to extend the deadline for another 15 days and resolve the problems of defaulters who are willing settle the dues,” one property owner said.