BENGALURU: The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) has identified Rs 318 crore tax evasion from 13,600 properties during its second phase of GPS-based door-to-door reassessment drive.
Proceedings have begun to recover Rs 688 crore from owners of 23,600 properties. Notices have been issued along with online appeals and payment options.
Munish Moudgil, Special Commissioner (Revenue) GBA, said on Monday that the special drive by the IT wing of the authority covered around 13,600 properties across the city. It was found that owners of these properties had underpaid taxes for an average of five years. Nearly 67,000 notices, including year-wise assessments, have been issued.
With this, the total recovery process initiated in the first and second phases has reached Rs 688 crore from 23,600 properties. Show-cause notices have been issued to property owners and alerts sent via SMS and IVRS. Such owners have been given 15 days to file appeals online or pay the revised tax through the designated portals, he said. According to Moudgil, GPS teams visit such properties and record the usage type (residential, commercial or mixed), built-up area and number of floors with a mobile application. The data then is sent to the department concerned, where a quality check (QC) team verifies the entries. Approved data is then cross-verified with drone imagery and digital building footprint records.
If discrepancies such as construction of extra floors or undeclared commercial usage are identified, GBA’s system automatically generates a show-cause notice with applicable penalties and interest, Moudgil said.
Stating that the GPS teams inspect nearly 10,000 properties daily, he said all cases of tax evasion would be pursued. The drive aims at ensuring transparency and accountability in property tax assessment.