Property owners must convert to Unit Area Assessment from rent-based valuation method

kolkata: The Assessment department of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has made it mandatory for property owners to convert to the Unit Area Assessment (UAA) method from a rent-based valuation system before applying for mutation of properties.

Once an owner fills up a SAF (self-assessment form) and the annual valuation of a property is calculated, it will automatically pave the way for mutation application. However, a section of owners complained of complicated SAF and their inability to self-calculate their tax as per the UAA method.

"We have decided to simplify the SAF and some changes in the method of self-calculation of property tax, The matter will be placed for approval in the next MMIC (Member Mayor-in-Council) meeting next month and will accordingly be sent for final approval at the monthly meeting," a senior official of KMC's Assessment department said.

The civic body has formed help desks in the borough offices where staff from the assessment department has been deployed to assist the property taxpayers to fill up SAF forms.

According to sources in the KMC, only about 35 per cent of the city's 8.5 lakh property taxpayers have so far opted for the new system.

The UAA is different from the old method of tax calculation, where the tax of a property was decided based on its annual valuation. The UAA was introduced in 2017 and deadlines have been extended time and again for the property tax owners to switch over to UAA."We have now decided that we will give a flat 5 per cent hike in tax and send the next tax bill. All those who have not converted to the new system and whose property tax has not been reassessed since 2012 will face the hike," a KMC official said.