BENGALURU: After mopping up Rs 4,600 crore — or 88% — of the Rs 5,210-crore target it had set for property tax collection in 2024-25, the civic authority is going all out to realise as much as it can in the remaining one month of the financial year.
“We’re auctioning properties that have defaulted on property tax payment and issuing notices in this regard,” BBMP special commissioner (revenue) Munish Moudgil told TOI.
With its one-time settlement (OTS) scheme which offered a waiver of penalties and interest for property tax defaulters not yielding much results, the civic body has been taking strict measures, including seizure of properties of defaulters and auctioning them.
According to another senior BBMP revenue official, auction notices have spurred many property owners with arrears to clear their dues.
BBMP, meanwhile, has targeted to collect Rs 5,600 crore in property tax in 2025-26, the official said.
“To improve tax collection, BBMP is planning to obtain commercial building data from Bescom. Many property owners who have taken commercial electricity connections have been misrepresenting their buildings as residential to pay lower tax,” said another senior revenue official. “By accessing Bescom records, BBMP aims to correct these discrepancies and boost tax collection. Additionally, 2-3 lakh properties that are currently not included in the tax net will be brought under the system,” he explained.
This financial year, BBMP has seized nearly 9,000 defaulter properties and attached bank accounts of 83,000 property owners to recover dues. Over 600 properties were put up for auction.
