Corporation to introduce self-assessment of tax

The Corporation will introduce in April self-assessment of property tax for new buildings, extensions in old ones and also the houses in the unapproved layouts that are to be tapped for tax revenue, according to Mayor R. Venkatachalam.

This is to step up revenue collection and overcome bottlenecks to it that now plaque the Corporation in the form of inadequate manpower for survey and assessment.

The Coimbatore Corporation aims to bring about a culture of compliance through self-assessment. Corporation sources say that this can help in even avoiding charges of corruption during assessment. The concept is part of the e-governance that the Corporation embarked upon a few years ago. The assessment details can be provided on-line for fixing the property tax.

The self-assessment will, however, have a monitoring mechanism to prevent under-assessment. Officials will check for the veracity of the details such as the size of the buildings that are provided by the owners.

The Corporation is not happy with its current collection as it has crossed only the halfway mark. It has stepped up the drive to collect both arrears and the amount due for this year.