Expect new property tax bill in next 15 days Citizens Will Get 21 Days To Raise Objections

Mumbai: Your property tax bills, calculated on the basis of the newly implemented capital value-based system, are expected to reach your doorsteps in the next 15 days.      The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has already started sending out the bills along with a special notice, asking citizens to check the tax calculation for their property and report problems, if any, within 21 days of receiving the bill. "We have set up a helpdesk in every ward office," said additional municipal commissioner Rajiv Jalota.      Atotal of 2.7 lakh properties in the city will receive the bill. The last date for payment is March 31. The BMC had roped in a firm to develop a software that will allow citizens to compute their property tax online. While work on the software is already underway, the online system is expected to be up and running in a few months.      A property's capital value is calculated by taking into consideration elements like the building's age, the area in which the property is located, the nature of construction and ready reckoner rates. A property's capital value multiplied by the rate of tax will give you the property tax.      The bills, however, spell bad news for owners of buildings, residential as well as commercial, which have come up after 2010 as they will have to pay property tax arrears from April 2010 in this financial year. For older buildings which have been receiving provisional bills, the final bill will be adjusted to reflect the outstanding or refund amount calculated according to the new system.  THE NEW SYSTEM  Earlier, property tax was computed on the basis of the rent paid by tenants. Rents for old buildings in south Mumbai are frozen at amounts that existed in the 1940s. As the BMC cannot increase this amount, the property tax paid by south Mumbai residents was far less than that paid by those living in the suburbs. The new capital-value based system has been implemented to bring parity in the taxation Under the capital value-based system, the tax payable by the owner of a property is based on the property's current market value. The property tax will now be calculated based on 5 factors —the price of the property, the area it's located in, the age of the building, whether it is a commercial or residential property and the type of construction (concrete, wooden structure etc)