65 percent owners give online tax payment system a miss

Though the government is promoting cashless digital payment, building owners in Chennai are slow to utilise the online payment system for property tax as only 20 per cent of the tax amount is being collected online.

During the financial year 2018-19, the Greater Chennai Corporation collected Rs 1,002 crore as property tax. Of which only around Rs 200 crore was collected through online modes. “Of more than 12 lakh building owners, around 35 per cent use online payment system,” a Chennai Corporation official said.

This is despite the Chennai Corporation implementing the online payment system for the entire city nearly six years ago in 2013. The civic body also cancelled transaction charges for paying tax online to encourage more building owners to use the online system from 2015. Owners could use credit cards, debit cards or net banking to pay taxes.

However, residents are sceptical while using the online payment system and are wary of the threats that the online payment poses. “I agree that using the online payment system is easy. But I go to the Corporation office every time as a small typo would lead to loss of money,” VS Jayaraman, a resident of T Nagar said.

Apart from the online payment, the civic body is also providing mobile payment options. Recently, the tax collectors, who make door-to-door visit owners to collect property tax, were given handheld point of sale (pos) devices to collect property tax by using debit and credit cards. Owners could also pay property tax through Namma Chennai mobile application.

The Greater Chennai Corporation has collected Rs 446 crore as on September 4, which is around Rs 200 crore higher than the property tax collected during the same period last year. Apart from collecting property tax from building owners, the civic body also collects tax from the owners of vacant plots.