RoofandFloor Bureau
The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has raised property taxes with effect from April 1, 2016. The last time Property tax was revised was in 2008; since then, while guidance values were raised thrice, this had no effect on property tax rates. Effectively, property tax will increase by 20-25% in most cases.
The raise is expected to impact home owners in E and F zones like Mahadevapura and Bommanahalli. Zones A and B, comprising posh neighbourhoods like M.G. Road, Koramangala and Jayanagar, are expected to be less affected by the increase in taxes.
Bangalore developers have expressed reservations about the hike. The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) is unhappy about the methodology used to revise values this year. The realty industry maintains that the hike is based on value of properties which is a rather generalised approach. Two properties cannot be valued similarly, CREDAI maintains.
A hike in guidance values has increased the stamp duty on registration, increased property taxes and the realignment of zones has added more properties into the higher zones. They maintain that with home values already quite high, a hike in property tax will further intimidate potential home owners.
In October 2015, the BBMP had notified about the proposed 20% hike in guidance values for Bangalore residential properties and 25% for commercial properties.
Don’t use cheques for BBMP payments
From April 1, the BBMP will not accept cheques for payments. G. Kumar Naik, BBMP Commissioner, told The Hindu “Due to our past experience, where we ended up with several bounced cheques, we have done away with taking cheques.” Citizens can make their payments through demand draft or cash from a Canara Bank branch or even online. Anybody paying the entire tax by April 30 will get a 5% discount. The BBMP website is integrating the new tax slabs so that people can calculate their taxes online.
