Mumbai Property Tax: What the 2026 Act Changed

Most Mumbai owners reach this page hoping for one thing: money back from BMC. The honest answer is that a Maharashtra law in force since 15 April 2026 has shut that door for capital value property tax paid from April 2010 onwards. The same law expressly leaves open your right to question the assessment on your own flat, shop or plot.

Mumbai property tax capital value Act 2026

The law is the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (Amendment, Re-enactment of Capital Value Rules with retrospective effect and Validation) Act, 2026, printed as MAHARASHTRA ACT No. XXI OF 2026 and first published in the Maharashtra Government Gazette on 15 April 2026 after the assent of the Governor. Section 1 carries only a short title and no commencement sub-section, so it has operated from that date. Its parent law is the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, III of 1888. Section 2 substituted sub-sections 1A and 1B of section 154 from 1 April 2010, sections 3 and 4 re-enacted rule 21 of the Capital Value Rules of 2010 and 2015, and section 5 validated what BMC did under them.

Which group are you in?

Pick your line.

  • Group A. You paid this tax between 1 April 2010 and 15 April 2026 and want it back.
  • Group B. You have a suit or appeal about that tax still pending.
  • Group C. You think your current assessment is wrong or unexplained.

Group A: the refund door is shut, the excess is not lost

Section 5(1) declares that capital value property tax and penalty assessed, levied, demanded, collected or reviewed by BMC between 1 April 2010 and the commencement of the Act shall be deemed always to have been validly done. Clause b provides that “no suit or appeal or other proceedings shall lie or be maintainable or continued in any court” against BMC for refund of such taxes, and clause c stops any court enforcing a refund decree.

Clause d trips people up. Excess property tax “shall not be refunded and shall be adjusted against the amount of property tax due under the principal Act”, and section 5(3) repeats it. If you paid more than is due under the Act as it now reads, the money is not written off, but it does not come back as cash. It is set off against what you owe: plan on a smaller future bill, not a cheque. Note the closing date too: the validated window ends on 15 April 2026, so anything BMC raises after that is outside it.

Group B: what a pending matter can still ask for

Section 5(1)(b) bars proceedings not just from being filed but from being “continued”, so a pending matter seeking a refund for that window is squarely hit.

What survives is narrower but more useful than it sounds. Section 5(2)(a) declares that nothing in sub-section 1 prevents a person “from questioning in accordance with the provisions of the principal Act and the rules framed thereunder, as amended by the Amendment Act, assessment, levy, demand, collection or review of property tax or penalty”. A challenge to your own assessment survives; a claim for cash back does not. Ask your advocate to separate the two prayers.

Group C: you have the most room to move

Nothing stops you asking BMC how your current assessment was computed and challenging any wrong input. The formula sits in a re-enacted rule with named inputs, which makes it checkable.

What section 5 blocks and what it preserves

Blocked by section 5 sub-section 1 Preserved by section 5 sub-sections 2 and 3
Suits and proceedings seeking refund of this tax collected between 1 April 2010 and 15 April 2026, clause b Questioning the assessment, levy, demand or collection under the 1888 Act as amended, clause a
Continuation of a pending refund proceeding, clause b Raising that you paid more than is due under the amended Act, clause b
Enforcement of any decree directing such a refund, clause c Excess adjusted against property tax due, sub-section 3
Cash repayment of excess tax for that period, clause d Nothing revives a cash refund here

How BMC builds the capital value figure

Re-enacted rule 21 names every input, so one wrong input skews the whole figure.

How the formula is built, an illustration only

For open land, re-enacted rule 21 gives:

CV = BR x UC x AL

BR is the base rate, the average rate for that land in the Annual Statement of Rates in force. UC is the weightage by multiplication for the user category, from Part I of Schedule A. AL is the land area.

So a plot's capital value is one published rate, times one category weight, times one area. If BMC recorded a plot as commercial when it is residential, the UC weight alone moves the whole bill. No rupee figures appear here on purpose: the real rates and weights live in the Annual Statement of Rates and the Schedules.

For a building the chain is longer. Under the 2010 Rules, rule 21 reads CV = BR x UC x NTB x AF x FF x BA, where NTB is the nature and type of building weightage from Schedule B, AF the age of building weightage from Schedule C, FF the floor factor from Schedule D, and BA the built-up area. Under the 2015 Rules the same chain ends in CA, carpet area. Section 154 sub-section 1A as substituted sets the measure as built-up area from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2015 and carpet area from 1 April 2015, so every current Mumbai assessment runs on carpet area.

The base rate is no longer called the Ready Reckoner. The 2026 Act substitutes “the Annual Statement of Rates” for that phrase, tied to the Maharashtra Stamp, Determination of True Market Value of Property, Rules, 1995. Those rates come from the Department of Registration and Stamps, Maharashtra, on its eASR portal at https://easr.igrmaharashtra.gov.in. What it cannot tell you is which rate BMC applied to your property. Only BMC holds that.

Use an RTI to get your own assessment working

BMC is a public authority and the computation sheet behind your capital value is a record it holds. Section 6(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 lets a person request information in writing or by electronic means, with the prescribed fee, from the Public Information Officer concerned, and section 6(2) says you need give no reason. Section 7(1) requires the PIO to act within thirty days of receipt. Ask for records, not opinions: an application phrased as “why did you charge me so much” comes back refused.

Sample RTI text you can adapt

Subject: Capital value computation for property bearing Account Number , Ward .

  1. The capital value computation sheet for the above property for the years to , showing each input used under rule 21 of the applicable Capital Value Rules.
  2. The base rate applied, with the Annual Statement of Rates entry, zone and sub-zone it came from.
  3. The user category recorded and the weightage by multiplication applied for it.
  4. The weightage for nature and type of building, the age of building factor and the floor factor, with the schedule entry for each.
  5. The built-up area recorded up to 31 March 2015 and the carpet area recorded from 1 April 2015, with the source document for each.
  6. Copies of the assessment order and any review order for the property.

Build it in the AI RTI Drafter and track the clock with the RTI deadline calculator. New to this? Read RTI for beginners.

If BMC does not reply in time

Section 7(2) treats a failure to decide in time as a deemed refusal. Section 19(1) then lets you appeal within thirty days of that expiry, or of receiving the decision, to an officer senior in rank to the PIO in the same public authority. The First Appeal Builder drafts it and Section 19 first appeal explains the stage. After that comes the State Information Commission, listed in the state RTI portals directory.

Turning the reply into a challenge

The RTI reply is evidence. Challenging the assessment is a separate track under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888 and the capital value rules, which section 5(2)(a) keeps open. Take the computation sheet to the assessment and collection department of your ward and put the defect in writing: wrong user category, carpet area, age factor, floor factor or base rate zone. One documented input error beats a general complaint about the bill. Your account number and ward come from the BMC property tax citizen portal at https://ptaxportal.mcgm.gov.in/CitizenPortal/. Time limits under the 1888 Act depend on the stage your assessment has reached, so confirm them at the ward office first.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get a cash refund of BMC capital value property tax paid since 2010?

No. Section 5(1)(d) says excess property tax shall not be refunded and shall be adjusted against property tax due. The relief is a set off, not a cheque.

Does the Act stop me challenging my current property tax bill?

No. Section 5(2) declares that nothing in sub-section 1 prevents a person questioning the assessment, levy or demand under the parent Act as amended.

Is BMC covered by the RTI Act?

Yes. An application under section 6(1) of the RTI Act, 2005 goes to its Public Information Officer, and section 7(1) gives thirty days.

Does BMC use built-up area or carpet area?

Both. Section 154 sub-section 1A as substituted uses built-up area from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2015 and carpet area from 1 April 2015.

What replaced the Ready Reckoner in the capital value rules?

The Annual Statement of Rates, published under the Maharashtra Stamp, Determination of True Market Value of Property, Rules, 1995.

My case about this tax is still pending. What happens to it?

A refund prayer for the 2010 to 2026 window is barred from being continued by section 5(1)(b). A challenge to your own assessment stays alive under section 5(2)(a).

Does an assessment raised after 15 April 2026 get the same protection?

No. Section 5(1) validates only what BMC did up to the commencement of the Act. Anything later stands on its own.

Sources

This page explains the published law. It is not legal advice.

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