In a bid to popularise online payment of property tax, the Chennai Corporation will live test a new payment gateway for property tax without transaction fee next week.
Currently, thousands of taxpayers reportedly avoid the online mode of property tax payment because of the transaction fee of 1.75 per cent of the tax. ICICI, HDFC, IDBI, IndusInd and Punjab National Bank have agreed to the waiver of additional charges. From Pongal, property owners in the city will be able to pay via debit card, credit card or net banking without incurring additional expenditure. “The number of online property tax transactions has increased from 5,000 in 2009 to 70,000 this year,” said an official.
For net banking, the 12.36 per cent service tax with the Rs. 6 per transaction will also be waived.