South Delhi Municipal Corporation proposes cashless property tax payments

SDMC commissioner Puneet Kumar Goel said taxes will have to be paid online. Goel made the proposal while presenting budget estimates on Friday.

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) may stop accepting cash payments for property tax from the next financial year.

The corporation will als introduce a mobile application and e-wallet facilities by next year to help taxpayers make cashless payments. (Virendra Singh Gosain/HT Photo)

SDMC commissioner Puneet Kumar Goel said taxes will have to be paid online. Goel made the proposal while presenting budget estimates on Friday.

Goel said the corporation will introduce a mobile application and e-wallet facilities by next year to help taxpayers make cashless payments.

“Although people can make payments by cheques and drafts, our staff will help those who can’t access the online facility. We will create a window in each zone to help taxpayers fill in the property tax forms,” he said.

The corporation will also organise camps in each ward to help taxpayers understand the functioning of these applications.

Digital records

Taking a step towards in its bid to digitise the property tax records, the corporation has also launched a scheme called ‘Link all your record.’ Under the scheme, the corporation will collate all information related to a taxpayer, with the help of a unique property identification card (UPIC). This information can be accessed by the taxpayer on the SDMC’s webpage.

Once the information is collected, the corporation will issue an e-passbook and UPIC, and maintain an online demand and collection register containing details of receipts and dues for each property.

“We will conduct a door-to-door survey to ensure that everyone is covered under these schemes. It will help us identify defaulters and take action against them,” a senior SDMC official said.

The corporation will also launch a software for ‘online mutation’ of property. Mutation is the change of title ownership from one person to another. “The process takes lot of time. To resolve the issue, this software will be launched shortly,” said Goel.

Tax mop up

SDMC is expecting to collect ₹742 crore as property tax during the fiscal year 2017-18. For the fiscal year 2016-17, the amount is estimated to be ₹775 crores.

The commissioner also said that rebates to those who pay taxes on time will be reduced from 15% to 10 % in 2017-18. For senior citizens/ disabled/ women taxpayers, the rebate will be reduced from 30% to 20%. No rebate will be given to DDA/CGHS flats built over a 100 square-metre area.

No rebates will be given to heritage land or buildings that are notified by the corporation or the ASI, used for commercial purposes.