Indian Express 17.09.2010
Pay property tax with debit cards
Ajay Khape Tags : corporations, online facility, pune Posted: Fri Sep 17 2010, 03:50 hrs
Pune: PMC to extend online payment facility, 2 pc fine every month for defaultersThe Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is all set to extend the online facility to pay property tax by reaching an agreement with more banks and introducing payment through debit cards. The last date for tax payment for the first half is September 30. According to the state government decision, defaulters will have to pay a penalty of two per cent every month.
“All those failing to pay the taxes before the deadline will be penalised two per cent every month. This will compel many to pay taxes on time and the civic administration needs to provide multiple options to property owners for the purpose,” said Vilas Kanade, PMC tax assessment and collection officer.
There should not be any excuse for peopel to delay the payment, he said, adding that the civic administration is upgrading its system of tax collection.
The PMC has a tie-up with ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank for the online collection of tax. We are in discussion with other banks to provide the same facility to tax payers having account in the respective banks,” Kanade said.
The civic body is also working on accepting the tax through cards, he said, adding that large number of people these days use online banking and card facility for transaction.
“Number of people paying tax online is doubling every year. Around 21,000 people used the online facility in 2009-10 against 11,000 in 2008-09, while only 4,500 used the facility in 2007-08. The administration is expecting it to reach 50,000 by the end of current financial year,” Kanade said. The civic body has also asked all interested banks to prepare a plan to make available the facility of card payment to its account holders which would be cleared by the month end. Kanade said as per the BPMC Act, the bill has to be delivered at the doorstep. “We are trying to explore all possibilities to ensure that each property owner gets the bill at doorstep. The administration has also initiated text messaging service wherein people can send the property code and get the information on dues,” he said.
