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The Maharashtra government has abolished the non-agricultural (NA) tax applicable to urban housing societies and announced a complete waiver of pending dues, including arrears, penalties, and interest. The decision was announced in the state assembly by Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule. The move is expected to provide relief to thousands of apartment owners across cities in the state. Along with removing the annual tax, the government has introduced a revised framework for land conversion charges under the amended Maharashtra Land Revenue Act, replacing the recurring levy with a rationalised one-time premium structure linked to Ready Reckoner rates.
The Government of Maharashtra has abolished the non-agricultural (NA) tax applicable to housing societies in urban areas and waived all outstanding dues related to the levy. The decision was announced in the state legislative assembly by Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule during the ongoing budget session. Advertisement
The minister informed the assembly that the government had decided to remove the annual NA tax for urban housing societies and cancel all pending liabilities accumulated under the earlier system. These include unpaid arrears as well as penalties and interest that had built up over the years. The waiver will apply to housing societies across urban areas of the state.
Under the earlier framework governed by the Maharashtra Land Revenue Act, land converted from agricultural to non-agricultural use attracted an annual NA tax. Residential buildings constructed on such land were required to pay this recurring levy through the revenue department. Housing societies in several cities had raised concerns about the additional burden because residents were already paying municipal property taxes to local civic bodies.
Officials indicated that the removal of the NA tax will apply to residential buildings located in urban areas regardless of whether the structures are newly constructed or several decades old. Housing societies that had accumulated dues over the years will not be required to clear them, as the state government has granted a blanket waiver up to the date of the policy decision.
The state government has simultaneously introduced a revised framework for land conversion charges through amendments to the Maharashtra Land Revenue (Second Amendment) Act, 2025. Under the new structure, the earlier system of recurring annual NA tax has been replaced with a one-time conversion premium linked to Ready Reckoner rates in certain cases.
As part of this revised system, specific conversion charges have been defined for plots depending on their size. For properties built before 2001 on plots up to 1,000 square metres, the premium will be calculated at 0.10 percent of the Ready Reckoner rate applicable in 2001. For plots up to 4,000 square metres, a one-time charge of 0.25 percent will apply. Larger land parcels will attract a one-time conversion charge of 0.15 percent.
Officials from the revenue department indicated that the reform is intended to simplify procedures for housing societies and reduce compliance requirements. In the earlier system, many societies were required to interact repeatedly with revenue offices to address classification issues and clear tax demands, which often led to delays and confusion.
The issue had remained a long-standing concern for urban housing societies in cities such as Mumbai, Pune and Thane. In several cases, societies had accumulated unpaid dues over many years because of disputes regarding land conversion status or delays in updating revenue records.
Housing federations and resident groups had repeatedly requested the state government to remove the levy, arguing that apartment owners were effectively paying two different taxes on the same property municipal property tax to local bodies and NA tax to the revenue department.
The decision also follows earlier policy discussions within the state government where the removal of NA tax had been considered as part of broader land revenue reforms. Implementation had remained unclear for some time, and several housing societies continued receiving tax notices while awaiting formal policy directions.
With the latest announcement in the assembly, the state government has now formally ended the recurring NA tax regime for urban housing societies and provided clarity on the treatment of past liabilities.
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