NASHIK: The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) launched an amnesty scheme for property tax defaulters starting Oct 1. Under the scheme, defaulters can receive up to a 95% waiver on penalties if they clear all dues between Oct 1 and Nov 30.
For those who pay their dues in Dec, an 85% penalty waiver applies, while a 75% waiver is available for payments made in Jan.
NMC officials estimate the total outstanding property tax at Rs 600 crore currently, including Rs 300 crore in penalties accumulated over the years.
The civic body imposes a 2% monthly penalty on unpaid property taxes and recovers costs associated with notices and warrants issued to defaulters.
Officials said that this is the last chance for defaulters to settle their dues. Failure to do so during the amnesty period will result in property confiscation.
NMC had implemented a similar scheme in Oct-Nov 2021, but it saw limited success, collecting only Rs 14.86 crore from 17,560 defaulters. During that period, defaulters received a total penalty rebate of Rs 56.33 lakh.
This time, NMC expects a better response, with hopes that the substantial penalty reductions will encourage defaulters to settle their dues. The civic body has set a property tax collection target of Rs 250 crore for the current financial year.
By the end of September, it had collected Rs 127 crore, slightly ahead of the Rs 125 crore collected during the same period last year. NMC’s property tax records include a total of 5.75 lakh properties.
