Delhi: Tax burden on salaried individuals, professionals to increase

Salaried individuals and working professionals like doctors, engineers, chartered accountants and other professionals will have to pay more tax as the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has approved levying of professional tax.

According to the decision, salaried individuals and professionals like doctors and lawyers will have to pay professional tax if their monthly income is above ₹50,000.

People earning less than ₹50,000 won't have to pay any such tax, according to the slab approved by the SDMC House in its meeting chaired by Mayor Anamika.

According to the slab, for those earning in the range of ₹50,001-75,000, the tax will be ₹100 per month, for ₹75,000- ₹1,00,000 slab, it will be ₹150 per month and for ₹1,00,001 it will be ₹200 per month, an official said.

Self-employed people, earning up to ₹6 lakh, will be exempted from this tax, the civic body said.

SDMC officials said the decision has been taken to augment the source of income of the civic body, as revenues have been hit due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, the decision will need approval from the Delhi government, sources said.

The AAP has been protesting the decision ever since SDMC's standing committee approved it recently, and had asked the BJP-run civic body to rollback the hike in taxes and not levy professional tax.

The House has also approved a hike in property transfer tax and postponed the decision on electricity tax hike, officials said.

In another decision, SDMC on Monday decided that residential and commercial property holders will have to pay property tax only for two financial years (i.e. 2019-20 and 2020-21).

The mayor said that this decision has been taken in order to provide relief to the citizens of Delhi, and the pending tax since 2004 will be "completely waived off".

Under the amnesty scheme, the benefit of 100 per cent waiver of interest and 100 per cent penalty is provided to all properties. The last date of this amnesty scheme is July 30, the SDMC said.

Anamika said that earlier it was decided that owners of non-residential or commercial properties have to pay the property tax for the last three years and residential properties have to deposit two year property tax, but now there will be the same condition for both residential and non-residential properties.