The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) assessment department has made changes in the application form for existing property tax-payers to enable them switch over to the Unit Area Assessment (UAA) method.
Explaining the reason behind the move, mayor Firhad Hakim on Monday said it was necessary to make the form simple as majority of tax-payers were getting baffled by the unnecessary complications that existed in the old form. “Our officials were getting negative feedback about the form because of its length and unexplained complications. Now, we have done away with irrelevant matters and made the form citizen-friendly,” Hakim said.
Deputy mayor Atin Ghosh held a meeting with senior KMC assessment department officials during the day and asked them to arrange for help desks in borough offices to make tax-payers aware about the change in the application form. “We were committed to make changes in the UAA application form so that tax-payers don’t find it complex and refrain from switching over to the new tax regime,” Ghosh said.
According to a KMC assessment department official, the new form has been made slimmer by cutting down unnecessary instructions that were given to tax-payers in the older version. “This apart, we have deleted large portions of information from the previous UAA form which were not relevant for tax-payers. Cluttering of information proved to be detrimental for the tax-payers’ understanding of the new system,” said a KMC official in the assessment department. A KMC revenue department official said the new form would be a two-page document that will be self-explanatory and easy to understand.