KMC mulls to auction city hotel seized for non-payment of tax

KOLKATA: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is mulling to auction a hotel located at Central Kolkata after it was seized for non-payment of property tax.

According to KMC sources, a hotel at Sarojini Naidu Sarani on Rawdon Street has been seized by the Corporation. The Corporation is now working on the next sale of this hotel. According to the information, the Corporation had seized 'The Big Boss Hotel' in the month of December last year. The property tax arrears of this hotel are around Rs 3 crore 44 lakh.

The hotel owner was unable to pay the arrears. Therefore, the Corporation has confiscated the hotel. An official said there were some other immovable properties in Kolkata which would be confiscated and auctioned by the Corporation.

It is learnt that there are 8 lakh 27 thousand taxpayers in Kolkata. Out of which, 7 lakh 22 thousand are residential taxpayers.

According to the information received from the sources in the Corporation, till February 24 this year, the Corporation has collected Rs. 782 crore from property tax. In the 2019-20 financial year, the Corporation had collected more than Rs. 800 crore from property tax.In the 2020-21 financial year, the Corporation recovered an amount of Rs. 900 crore from property tax. The assessment department of the Corporation is expecting that in March this year it will recover more than Rs 800 crore from property tax.

An official informed that COVID-19 pandemic also had an impact on the tax recovery process. But, due to continuous assessment efforts, the situation is now getting normal, the effect of which can be seen from next financial year.

If the taxpayer fails to clear their arrears then a reminder notice is sent to them. In a bid to contact and remind about their dues, the KMC had collected the phone numbers and e-mail IDs of 60 per cent

of taxpayers.