OTS for property tax defaulters extended till August 31

BBMP extends OTS scheme for property tax defaulters until August 31, 2024, allowing interest-free payments, collecting ₹217.5 crore.

Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Friday (August 2) announced that the one-time settlement (OTS) scheme for property tax defaulters has been extended until August 31, 2024. The scheme, inaugurated in February 2024, gave a window where tax defaulters could pay the tax without penalty and interest. It ended on July 31.

On July 30 and July 31, thousands of defaulters rushed to the civic body’s offices, resulting in servers crashing resulting in many people being denied a chance to pay their taxes without interest and penalty.

Chief Civic Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath said the number of defaulters who were ready to pay but not able to do so due to the technical glitch was high, and hence, the State government decided to extend the deadline.

“Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will now keep the window open till the fresh deadline. The defaulters should come in larger numbers to pay the interest-free dues to the revenue department,” Mr. Giri Nath said.

The BBMP, through the ambitious OTS scheme, gave 3.95 lakh property tax defaulters an opportunity to pay interest and penalty-free dues and collected ₹217.5 crore. Data shared by the BBMP shows 1.07 lakh property tax defaulters made use of the scheme, which was launched on February 23.

During a press briefing on Friday, Mr. Shivakumar said thanks to the OTS scheme, the civic body collected property tax of ₹3,000 crore so far in this fiscal year. It is over ₹700 crore more than the previous year.