Dear Sir/Madam,

We own a flat in Bandra west (Estandre Building, St. John baptist road)
which we purchased in March 2002. On April 15, 2008, we had to move out of
our own flat to a larger leased flat at Rs. 4,00,000/- per month rent in
Worli since my husband's father was serious and my in-laws needed to move in
with us to get his treatment done here in Mumbai. After trying for 4 months,
we finally managed to put out our own flat on rent on August 15, 2008 at Rs.
63,000/- per month. We are paying income tax on the said rent, wealth tax
and property tax on the said property. However, BMC vide a special notice
TWR 327/08-09 dated March 17, 2009 revised the rateable value (based on the
rent drawn by us) of only our flat in the entire building and asked us to
pay additional property tax of Rs. 19,000/- per month with retrospective
effect from August 2008. This charge, by any rationale, is usurious. We are
paying all prevailing taxes on rental income, prevailing taxes on house
property, we are not understanding the rationale for this adhoc tax levied
on us which no other landlords known to us in Mumbai are paying on their
rented property.

Our request for condonement to BMC has been turned down since it was
submitted on April 06, 2009 (3 days after the deadline of 15 days). We did
plea that the society forwarded the notice to us only on April 01, 2009
since we do not stay there any longer but BMC has not accepted our request.
As a law abiding, tax paying citizen of Mumbai, we tolerate all kinds of
delays in civic services, but the apex civic body is intolerant when the
citizen submits a genuine request. Kindly advise us on how we could have our
concerns addressed and the above issue sorted out. We are not in a position
to pay the above additional tax which has no bearing to fairness and
uniformity in the city of Mumbai.

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely,

Dear Sir:

The BMC has started charging an exhorbitantly high rate of property tax for apartments given on leave and license after 1st April 2008. This property tax amounts to 41.5% of annual rent. In addition, the licensor must pay income tax and the housing society maintenance charges. How are elderly people/ widows etc. who rely on the income from their apartments given on leave and license to meet medical and daily expenses supposed to survive?

We are told that the BMC has a law which permits collection of this exhorbitant property tax of 41.5% of annual rent for apartments given on leave and license in Mumbai. This is a draconian law and we wonder how any government/ municipal body could pass and implement such a law. People rely on rent received from their apartments given on leave and license for their survival and medical expenses.

This high rate of property tax is basically being charged to those law abiding citizens who had deposited a copy of their leave and license agreement with the housing society secretary (as per notification issued by BMC). Many people who have not deposited their leave and license agreements with the housing society secretary are not being charged the high rate of property tax. In many cases the BMC has charged tax higher than 41.5% of annual rent and does not give the basis for the calculation of property tax despite letter being given to the BMC requesting it to give the basis for the calculation.

Mr. Jairaj Phatak and Mr. Pathan of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM or BMC) are implementing a draconian law which is unjust by any account as the licensor ends up pay about 76.5%(41.5% as BMC property tax, 33% as Income tax, 2% as society maintenance and registration charges for leave and license agreement) of the rent received as taxes. Please assist in stoping this injustice to the public in Mumbai by the BMC.

Sir, we need urgent help on this very high property tax on rented apartments in Mumbai. The property tax works on the assumption that no one should rely on rent received from their apartments given on leave and license in Mumbai as according to the property taxation rule in Mumbai, property tax is levied equivalent to 41.5% of annual rent. In addition, the licensor must pay income tax of 30% as well as housing society maintenance charges. After paying all this, hardly 15% to 20% of the rent received remains. How are senior citizens and widows who depend on the rent received from their apartments given on leave and license supposed to survive.

We need urgent help. This is harassment by the BMC. People are having to pay bribes to BMC assessing officers to get lower rents registered and hence lower property taxes levied.

A stay should be put on collection of property tax based on actual rent being received for the residential premises given on leave and license.

Hi!

We have rented a commercial premises for a new business @ 1.6 Lacs per month. BMC (F South Ward) approached us in March '09 demanding a tax of 3.2 Lacs per month on monthly basis!!!

They said that either we pay that tax or we give them a bribe of Rs. 10 Lacs and they will reduce this tax amount to Rs. 50,000 per month!! Considering the prevailing laws I understand the actual tax is 41.5% maximum (which too is exhorbitant), which amounts to Rs. 65,000 per month approximately. The taxation rules are so ambiguous that the prevailing officer can rule whatever he wants to. They said that we have 3 times the normal tax because the building does not have separate water meter!

After a few visits they came down to bribe amount of 6 lacs! I have a recording of all this. When we refused to pay this, they have issued an official demand of Rs. 28 Lacs of tax for a rented property of 1.6 lacs!

How does anyone survive with this kind of taxation. If this is not extortion of money what else is it? Someone has to do something about these government officials who have taken the citizens granted and their only objective is to fill up their pockets!

How do we handle this matter ?

Thanks & Regards,

Asit Shah
2470 8378

Hi!

Just like Asit Shah, we had a service fee agreement with an International company @ 1.25 Lacs per month since March 2004. TMC sent us apecial tax notice demanding a tax of 1.125 Lacs per month on monthly basis retrospective from March 2004 amounting to 85 lacs!!!

They said that either we pay that tax or go to court. Unfortunately, to approach court once has to first deposit tax amount with commissioner's office and there is no way in the world we can come up with this exorbitant amount. Questions I have are:

1. Can they retrofit this tax or was there an effective date for implementing this tax? Any links to this information will be deeply appreciated.

2. If we cannot afford to come up with the amount what is the next step?

3. Can anyone recommend attornies that handle these kind of cases?

How do we handle this matter ?

Thanks & Regards,

Donald Wolf

hi!
BMC notice about additional property tax should b paid on annual rent at rate of 41%
our income is based on this rent we have been charged 1 lakh 26 thousand.... how should we cum up with it. need to know wether this information is true or just a rumour
if this is the case how can we survive in mumbai.. this is really an iirational taxation.... how should we deal with it..

hi
I have a shop in Borivali and am running a mobile store.Bmc officer once came and handed a single page form and told us to write our name siinature stamp and asked how much rent is pevailinginthatarea.We wrote down the rent neighbouring shops were getting.He asked us to submit agreement.We thought he ment sale deed because we had just purchased the shop and furniture work was going on,
To our surprise after one and half years we came to know that BMC has chrges additional tax of Rs.7000/- on our shop assuming that it is rented.
We approached and officer and showed alldocuments prooving tha the shop is run by us,the owner,they agreed to reduce tax toRs.600/- p.m.
But they are not ready to waive off previus tax.They do not have any leave and licence agreement with them to prove that the shop is rented.Without verifying documents how they can charge Excess tax?
pl Help me.