Chennai corporation waives off fine for late payment of property tax; will get 5 percent rebate if pay before Oct 15

The last date for paying property tax dues for the first half of the financial year was Friday and a 2 percent simple interest would be added to the dues. This has been waived off.
CHENNAI.

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Chennai: The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has decided to waive off the two percent penalty levied on people who are yet to pay the difference after the property tax revision. The tax penalty will not be levied for the second half of the financial year too. The taxpayers can get a 5 percent rebate if they pay by October 15, officials said.
The deadline for paying tax dues for the first half of the financial year was September 30 and a 2 percent simple interest would be added to the dues. This has been waived off now. However, those having historical arrears from previous years will not be eligible to get the benefit for those years, deputy commissioner of GCC (revenue and finance), Vishu Mahajan, told reporters.
"The 2 percent interest automatically applies once the deadline crosses. So, we have made an exemption as a special case. The exemption applies till October 15. If there is any court order, it would be extended beyond that," the officer said. Court cases are pending against the tax revision.
Out of the total 13.1 lakh eligible taxpayers in the city, 6.9 lakh people have paid their property tax. The corporation has collected Rs 620 crore this financial year so far, compared to Rs 320 crore during the same period last year. The number of people paying more than Rs 50,000 has significantly increased from 13,000 to 23,000.
Meanwhile, the GCC approved the deployment of private agencies to take up reassessment of properties under the corporation. The corporation has recently conducted a drone survey which found anomalies in property tax assessment. Many of the properties were bigger in size than what was shown in the records. A reassessment of these 2.79 lakh properties will be taken up soon. The reassessment will be completed in nine months.
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