Delhi Government Launches SAMRIDDHI 2022-23, One-time Property Tax Amnesty Scheme

The Strengthening and Augmentation of Municipal Revenue for Infrastructure Development in Delhi Initiative, or SAMRIDDHI, will begin on October 26 and conclude on March 31, 2023, with no further extensions.

Residential property owners only need to pay the principal property tax for the current year and the previous five years under the plan. According to an official statement, owners of commercial properties may pay the principal owed for the last six years and receive a waiver of any past-due fees, including penalties and interest.

According to the L-G, SAMRIDDHI 2022–23 is a people-friendly initiative of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi that will significantly relieve citizens' concerns and motivate property owners to terminate long-standing disputes and ensuing harassment.

The civic body would be able to carry out much-needed civic infrastructure work for better service delivery to the people of Delhi thanks to the waiver of tax duty, he continued, because it will put more money in the hands of taxpayers and generate more revenue for MCD.

Saxena continued by saying that by being more practical about the enforcement of its long-pending tax dues, this new amnesty policy will help broaden the revenue base and allow MCD to create a proper tax database.

The tax amnesty scheme, according to the announcement, includes a "One Plus Five" option for residential properties and a "One Plus Six" option for non-residential properties.

"The taxpayers of residential properties under 'One Plus Five' are required to pay the principal amount of property tax for the current year and the prior five years (i.e., FY 2022-23 + FYs 2017-18 to 2021-22) after which 100% interest and penalty on the outstanding tax amount shall be exempted and all previous dues prior to 2017-18 will be waived off."

Similar to this, the "One Plus Six" for non-residential properties scheme requires property owners to pay the principal amount of property tax for the current year and the previous six years (i.e., FY 2022-23 + FYs 2016-17 to 2021-22); after doing so, 100% interest and penalty on the outstanding tax amount will be exempted, and all previous dues previous to 2016-17 will be entirely waived.

If a taxpayer does not pay his tax debt by March 31, 2023, he will be responsible for paying all tax debts from 2004 or from the year it became due, plus interest and penalties, and he will not be eligible for a waiver.

According to the statement, such defaulters would start facing coercive measures on April 1 of the following year to collect the tax dues.

In order to update the tax database, it was declared that any taxpayer who has previously paid dues for any of the years from 2017–18 or 2016–17 but who had not done so as of yet would need to produce proof of payment.

The statement further stated that cases, where principal, interest, and penalties have already been paid before the beginning of the scheme, will not be reevaluated and reopened.