The Corporation’s online system of property tax
collection has stopped working over the past two months because of
problems in its electronic data processing cell.
Several residents who have been trying to remit property tax have registered complaints with the civic body.
“I
tried to remit property tax online on April 2. I was unable to make the
payment. Officials claimed the problem was because of the Lok Sabha
elections. I am unable to pay the tax online even four days after
lifting of the model code of conduct,” said a resident.
“Online
payment of tax is useful for a large number of people who reside in
foreign countries and other cities. The number of residents using the
online payment system is rising in the city,” said K. Suresh Kumar, a
licensed surveyor.
More than 12 percent of the property tax collected last fiscal was through online and walk-in payment modes.
The
Chennai Corporation collected about Rs. 480 crore as property tax from
residents in 2013-14, an increase of around Rs. 19 crore over the
previous year.
The previous fiscal, the tax amount
collected through online and walk-in modes of payments was less than 10
percent of the total collection. “The increase in online payment is
mainly because a large number of residents living in other parts of the
country have invested in property in many of the 15 zones in Chennai,”
said an official.
Property tax payment is made by
residents living in other parts of the world using zone number, division
number, bill number and sub number. Such assessees will be able to
print the receipt for filing income tax returns. Officials said problems
pertaining to electronic data processing in the civic body would be
resolved shortly.
“We are generating manual receipts
because of the problem with handheld machines. Changes in zone numbers
could be yet another reason for glitches in the online system,” said an
official.
The method of tax collectors making
door-to-door visits for collecting dues is likely to remain the popular
mode of payment, said the official.