For those who pay in December, an 85% waiver on penalties will apply, and a 75% waiver will be granted for payments made in January.

NMC officials estimate that the total outstanding property tax currently stands at Rs 6 billion, which includes Rs 3 billion in penalties that have accumulated over the years.

The civic body imposes a 2% monthly penalty on unpaid property taxes and recovers costs related to notices and warrants issued to defaulters.

Officials indicated that this is the final opportunity for defaulters to clear their dues, warning that failure to do so during the amnesty period will result in property confiscation.

A similar scheme was introduced in October-November 2021, but it had limited success, with the NMC collecting only Rs 140.86 million from 17,560 defaulters. During that period, defaulters received a total penalty rebate of Rs 5.6 million.

This time, the NMC is optimistic about a better response, hoping that the significant reduction in penalties will encourage defaulters to pay their dues. The civic body has set a property tax collection target of Rs 2.50 billion for the current financial year.

By the end of September, the NMC had collected Rs 1.27 billion, slightly exceeding the Rs 1.25 billion collected during the same period the previous year.