PUNE: PMC has decided to seek the help of managements of housing societies for information about rented properties, after finding it difficult to get self-occupancy certificates from homeowners.
Based on information provided by management committees of housing societies, the administration will start charging additional tax from owners of rented properties. The administration will not extend the 40% tax discount to them. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) hopes to generate around Rs100 crore from this initiative.
Owners of 4.5 lakh properties were supposed to submit self-occupancy affidavits. Of them, around 3.5 lakh owners were yet to do so. After getting a poor response from property owners regarding filing of self-occupancy affidavits for property tax discounts, PMC started statewide awareness drives. Many property owners have lost out on 40% tax discount and are now liable to pay a higher amount as they have not filed the affidavits (PT3 forms).
According to PMC officials, the administration conducted a pilot project on the status of affidavits at Sinhagad Road ward office following which several issues, such as self-occupied properties wrongly being subjected to additional tax, have surfaced. This prompted the PMC to conduct a ward-wise drive.
“It was found that the many property owners were taking the benefit of 40% tax discount, even though they have rented out their properties. It is leading to loss of revenue for the civic administration. The PMC is finding it tough to depute manpower to detect all such properties,” said a senior PMC official.
The official added that PMC has decided to seek details from housing societies regarding rented properties. The civic body will cross verify if those rented properties were availing discount illegally. They will be subjected to additional tax (after removal of 40% tax discount). The communication regarding this will be sent to managements of housing societies from next week. Help will also be taken from 15 ward offices.
“PMC is offering a discount on self-occupied properties. But many citizens have not completed formalities. They should follow the process and submit PT3 forms with other documents,” said Madhav Jagtap, head of PMC’s property tax department.
According to PMC officials, a special discount of 40% was started in 1970 for self-occupied properties. But it was not notified as an act by any state government. So, the discount was declared illegal by the auditors of the Union government and scrapped in 2018-2019. After complaints by citizens and property owners, it was restored in 2022-23.
