The Hindu 19.08.2010
Corporation ready to collect taxes at doorstep
K.V. Prasad
| Hand-held billing machines to be used from next month |
COIMBATORE: From queuing up at crowded counters, the payment of Property Tax is set to become much easier as the Coimbatore Corporation will send its tax collectors and hand-held billing machines to the taxpayers' doorstep from next month.
As many as 30 machines have been purchased by the Corporation and the software is being loaded into these.
“We may launch the system in the first week of September,” Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra told the The Hindu on Thursday.
The Corporation already had two modes of payment. One was the manual one at its offices, facilitation centres and the banks it had tied up with.
The other one was the online mode under which people having internet facility could use their credit cards to pay the Property Tax and water charge. At present, debit card was not being accepted.
A total of 571 tax assesses, out of a total of 2.24 lakh, had paid online so far in the current financial year. “This figure will go up when the hand-held billing machines are introduced,” the Commissioner said.
Internet
“Only those who have internet facility can pay online now. But, the billing machines will be take the internet services to the doorstep of those who do not have internet at home,” he explained.
The receipts would be issued immediately. The present online option involved updating the tax book manually at the collection centre.
Mr. Mishra, however, said the transaction cost and service charge would be levied as the service was being provided at their doorstep.
To avoid these charges, the public would have to go to the collection centres to pay manually, he said, in response to the demand that debit cards should be exempted from these costs.
The payment gateway provider insisted that the charges would have to be levied for both credit and debit cards.
“The other option is to use the account transfer mode that we have introduced recently. Tax payers can ask the banks in which they have savings or current accounts to deduct the tax amount and transfer it to the account of the Corporation,” he explained.
The model of the form to leave such an instruction was available on the Corporation's website.
“We are also planning payment through internet banking. So, we will provide a total of five options. The tax payers can choose what suits them,” the Commissioner said.
