The Tiruchi Corporation has decided to implement UPI to collect taxes, fines and other charges from the tax payers and citizens.
Property tax, professional tax, water charges, underground drainage user charges and cable television fee are among the major sources of revenue of the Corporation.
In addition to them, it generates revenue from commercial ventures such as markets and shopping complexes. Entertainment tax, surcharge on stamp duty, surcharge on sales tax are assigned to the Corporation.
According to sources, there are about 2.36 lakh property assessments in the city. Of them, the number of residential assessments stands at 2.08 lakh. Remaining assessments are commercial properties. The collection of revenue from various heads stood at ₹ 223.65 crore in 20223-24 financial year. The contribution from property taxes alone stands at ₹ 128 crore from the overall collection. The Corporation estimates that the total revenue collection will cross ₹ 250 crore during the current year.
As per the current system, the civic body collects taxes through its collection centres at its main office and the zonal offices. In addition to it, it collects taxes through ‘tnurban e-pay portal’. Though the tax collection mechanism has been simplified than the old system, many tax payers prefer to pay only at the tax collection centres. To bring all tax payers under the ambit of electronic payment system, the Corporation has taken steps to collect payments through all payment gateways. To implement the system, the civic body has involved City Union Bank as a facilitator.
V. Saravanan, Commissioner, Tiruchi Corporation, told The Hindu that the idea was make use of the latest advancements in tax collection mechanism. As per the new system, the tax collectors would be provided with point of sales machines. It has procured 65 handheld machines to collect taxes through unified payments interface (UPI).
It would enable the tax payers to pay taxes through all payment gateways, including QR codes, debit and credit cards. Since the people have become familiar in UPI payment system, the tax payment would become easy, quick and secure, Mr. Saravanan said and added that the system was under trial in a few areas.
Efforts were being made to collect the mobile numbers of tax payers. It was required to check and recheck the mobile numbers of the tax payers. Once the process was completed, they could pay the taxes through online system. It would largely eliminate the human interface in tax collection, the Commissioner said.
D. Narayanan, Deputy Commissioner, Revenue, said that most of the works of the UPI-linked payment system had been completed. The Corporation would be in a situation to implement the system within two weeks.
Published - June 11, 2024 08:25 pm IST
