Kolkata Municipal Corporation has announced a six-month waiver of interest and penalties on outstanding property tax, allowing eligible property owners to settle their principal dues with substantial relief until March 31, 2027. The scheme, approved on the corporation’s proposal, is scheduled to take effect from Friday, according to municipal commissioner and municipal administrator Smita Pandey, as reported by Sangbad Pratidin.
The waiver is expected to benefit 386,288 taxpayers with outstanding property tax dues. Pandey said applicants must clear their pending property tax by March 31, 2027, to receive the concession. The corporation will also allow taxpayers to pay their outstanding dues in instalments.
For government, private and individually owned properties, the scheme provides a 100% waiver on accumulated interest and penalties. Properties used for both residence and business will receive an 80% waiver on interest and a 99% waiver on penalties, according to the municipal administrator’s statement cited in the report.
A separate concession has been announced for fully commercial properties, including commercial buildings and business establishments. These properties will receive a 70% waiver on interest and a 99% waiver on penalties if the outstanding municipal tax is paid within the six-month window.
The corporation’s outstanding property tax has been reported at ₹6,854.29 crore. Of this amount, the principal municipal tax is ₹3,138.76 crore, while accumulated interest accounts for ₹3,314.13 crore and penalties for ₹400.38 crore. The waiver means the civic body will forgo the interest and penalty components, but municipal authorities expect the scheme to help recover a substantial portion of the principal dues.
The announcement comes after a period in which property tax collection was reportedly disrupted by administrative and operational pressures. Municipal employees were engaged for extended periods in work related to the special revision of electoral rolls, the Assembly election and post-election social programmes, according to the report. The corporation’s online server was also reportedly unavailable for more than three weeks, forcing several residents who had arrived to pay their taxes to return without completing the process.
The waiver is not the first such initiative by the Kolkata civic body. Similar schemes were introduced during the tenures of former mayors Subrata Mukherjee, Sovan Chatterjee and Firhad Hakim. The latest measure has been announced ahead of the proposed Kolkata civic elections on November 28, as cited in the report.
The scheme’s immediate administrative test will be whether the corporation can provide reliable payment and instalment facilities during the deadline period. For taxpayers, the key requirement is to settle the outstanding property tax within the notified six-month window to qualify for the applicable waiver.
