Mangaluru City Corporation has now stopped accepting manually filed property tax returns under the Self-Assessment Scheme (SAS).
According to Mayor Premananda Shetty, the civic body launched the online tax filing facility on November 2 and the manual system of filing the returns was done away with subsequently.
“Tax payers remitted ₹90 lakh with the corporation online in November,” the Mayor told The Hindu .
The civic body introduced online facility 13 years after the SAS was introduced on April 1, 2008. Now, tax payers should log on to www.mccpropertytax.in to get their details and make payment.
Mr. Shetty said that property tax collection for the current financial year was at 41% till November-end. Tax payers have remitted ₹28.85 crore against an estimated annual demand of ₹70 crore. Usually, tax collection picks up during the last three months of the fiscal.
The Mayor said that when a tax payer paid tax online, the prescribed service tax, which varied depending upon the amount of tax, is also collected along with property tax. The service tax is credited to the online software provider.
Mr. Shetty said that for the time being, the corporation has retained the option of paying tax by cash (offline).
After entering the required details online, a tax payer can pay tax by cash through a challan. Cash can be remitted in all the branches of Canara Bank and Karnataka Bank. The option has been retained as some of the tax payers still do not have online bank transaction facility.
The Mayor said that once the tax is paid online by entering all the required basic information, tax payers will find it easy for filing returns from the subsequent year. Initially, there may be some glitches, he said.
The Mayor said that notwithstanding COVID-19 factors, tax remittance stood at 73% during 2020-21. He said that revenue officials in the corporation will help those who may find it difficult to file tax returns online for the first time.
People can approach them for help. In addition, there are helpers on the ground floor of the corporation who will also assist in filing returns online on payment of a nominal fee.
