Gurgaon property tax records to be audited after many get inflated bills

The Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) will audit all property tax records charted since the beginning of the fiscal year after complaints of inflated property tax bills emerged.

Several instances of inflated property tax bill complaints came to light this month with some residents saying their bills were more than twice the actual amount.

A group of residents from different parts of the city met MCG commissioner TL Satyaprakash last week and raised their concerns. They said complaints were made to the zonal tax officers in each division but to no avail.

Sources said Satyaprakash assured residents that their grievances would be redressed and tax records cross-checked.

Sumitra Mohanty of DLF Phase 1 said she received a bill of Rs. 2,80,000 for property tax. The bill should have been around Rs. 24,000. “I visited the MCG office to clarify my property tax as the bill is inflated. MCG officials admitted their lapse but the unnecessary confusion leads to great hassle,” Mohanty said.

A chartered accountant has been designated for the audit. It is the second time property tax bills are being audited this year after complaints of tax fraud in property tax receipts emerged. A taxpayer gets receipts for payments but whether the payment actually reaches the MCG’s nodal account could not be determined in several cases.

Prior to these instances, property tax was never audited.

“This audit is a regular exercise and efforts are on to audit bulk records. The cause of miscalculation — whether it happens manually or through software errors — can be ascertained through the audit,” MCG additional commissioner Amit Khatri said.

Khatri said the audit would determine the leakages and officials found indulging in malpractices might be suspended and FIRs registered against them.

MCG officials said the auditing process is likely to start from next month.

Property tax is a major source of revenue for the MCG and it earns in excess of Rs.400 crore annually through property tax payments.

Prior to the option of paying property tax online, which was added earlier this year, payment was done manually at the MCG offices in Sector 34 and near civil hospital.

In its bid to improve property tax collection, the civic body has taken various initiatives to enable online payments. In February, the MCG introduced online assessment and payment of property tax on its official website in a tie-up with HDFC bank. In July, the civic body partnered with an e-commerce firm to facilitate payment through digital wallet using Paytm. The facility is still awaited.

The MCG is also considering partnering with private banks to collect the sum from the doorstep of residents.