The GHMC standing committee has proposed giving one-time amnesty to property tax defaulters and waiving up to 80% of the interest on tax arrears to encourage taxpayers to pay dues voluntarily. This move is the highest relief extended to all types of properties in Hyderabad.

New Proposal to Provide Relief of 80% to Taxpayers 

With a one-time amnesty scheme, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will offer an 80% discount on property tax dues. With this new tax rebate offer, the civic body is expected to excuse about Rs 800 crores for the previous financial year 2019-20. This scheme has been tabled to make up for the severe financial losses that the civic body suffered during the two months of lockdown.

The municipal corporation is yet to get its property tax arrears of Rs 1,477 crore, till date. For the previous financial year, the tax collected was at Rs 1,017 crore, for which the civic body will be providing an exemption of 80 percent to the taxpayer. Until now, only 9.89 lakh property owners in Hyderabad have cleared their tax dues.

GHMC had previously provided tax reliefs but never before has it offered 80 percent relief to make back its tax arrears. While GHMC had set a target of Rs 1,800 crore revenue from property tax, the deficit on this target is Rs 400 crore. 

The GHMC one-time relaxation would be a good impetus for all the property tax defaulters to come forward and voluntarily accept the compliance framework.

By: Shailaja K