The tax department of the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has begun the process of sending out notices to around 9,810 people whose properties are either under-assessed, exploited for commercial use or completely missing from the property tax net.
The action followed after the private assessment agency hired by the civic administration submitted its report to the tax department. In an attempt to broaden its tax base and enrich its coffers, the MBMC had shortlisted the agency in 2019 for the survey work envisaging numbering, physical survey, measurements, capturing photographs, Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping and calculating payable tax on rateable and capital value taxation method.
The MBMC is expected to spend Rs. 27 crore towards the survey. According to officials, the agency has completed around 65 percent of the survey work and handed over a list of 9,810 properties including- 5,189 who are taxed but later altered to increase carpet area, 3,764 newly assessed units, 857 under-assessed and residential taxation for commercial use. “Process was underway to issue notices to the properties identified by the agency, however citizens will be allowed to raise objections and register their say before issuance of the final demand notice.” said tax officer- Sudam Godse.
Eyeing revenue augmentation of Rs. 32 crore from the current process MBMC’s tax department aims to weed out all the anomalies and net at least 50,000 more properties to their tax register after the entire survey is completed.
One of the major revenue generators for the MBMC, tax collections amounting 244 crore has been projected for the current fiscal. As per statistics, the assessed number of properties in the twin-city is currently pegged at around 3,68,501 including 63,498 commercial and 3,05,003 residential units. Last year the target was set at Rs. 232 crore and the MBMC managed to mop Rs. 175 crore.
