Taxing times ahead

KOCHI: The Kochi Corporation is planning to intensify the tax collection drive. The second phase of the drive will begin on January 2012 and the civic body is targeting a total of Rs 100 crore revenue through tax collection before March 2012.“The recent tax collection drive has helped the corporation to garner a revenue of `45 crore. With the launch of the second phase in January, we hope to achieve the set target of `100 crore between March 2011 and March 2012,” said an official with the Kochi Corporation Revenue Department. The corporation had recently revised the property tax rates as per the instructions given by the Local-Self Government Department. The new assessment will be based on the floor area ratio. “We will start issuing the self-assessment forms by December,” the official said.The self-assessment of property tax is a process in which a taxpayer will be issued a form in which all taxable income on his or her property is written, including the tax they owe which is to be returned (usually with the payment as well). “Tax defaulters will have to submit the dues before filing the self-assessment form,” the official said.He said the corporation had already served notices on the owners of 159 buildings on MG Road and Edappally Bypass. “A majority of these buildings have made alterations in their building plan by deviating from the approved ones. Likewise, some have added extra floors to the building and  converted parking spaces into commercial ones,” he added.The buildings that have been served notices include hospitals, hotels and commercial establishments. The Revenue Department will focus on buildings that were assessed as residential ones for taxation purposes earlier and later converted into commercial establishments. Since there is a considerable difference in the tax rate for the two categories, the civic body will re-assess such buildings and collect taxes accordingly. The official said that the Revenue Department had already started preparation of the list of tax defaulters. “The list is expected to be completed by December 15,” he said.