The Taxation and Tax Collection Department of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has accomplished significant milestones in property tax collection during the current financial year 2023-24.
Over the past four months, from April to July, the tax collection department has achieved a record-breaking collection of Rs 500 crores. Interestingly, in the corresponding period of the previous financial year (2022-23), the collection amounted to only Rs 287 crores. This indicates a remarkable increase of Rs 210 crores in property tax collection compared to the previous year.
Under the guidance of Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Tax Collection Department, Nilesh Deshmukh, has initiated innovative approaches to maximize property tax collection, setting new records of collections consistently.
The tax collection department has adopted various strategies to enhance tax recovery, including data analytics, social media awareness campaigns, organizing competitions to encourage citizens to pay property tax promptly, identifying defaulters who have not paid taxes for the last five years and issuing confiscation notices to them, taking confiscation actions, telecalling and sending SMS reminders to defaulters, and distributing bills using the Siddhi project.
Employees of the tax collection department have also received training on leveraging new technologies to maximize property tax collection in the minimum possible time. These efforts have yielded positive results, with 3,29,470 property owners paying a total of Rs 500 crores in the first four months of the current financial year.
The breakdown of the recovery methods for the collected amount is as follows:
- Online Payments: Rs 322 crores 86 lakhs
- Various Apps: Rs 5 crores 73 lakhs
- Cash Payments: Rs 61 crores 12 lakhs
- Payments by Cheque: Rs 44 crores 41 lakhs
- Electronic Data Capture (EDC): Rs 4 crores 91 lakhs
- Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS): Rs 24 crores 51 lakhs
The taxable properties are categorized as follows:
- Industrial: 2,434 properties
- Residential: 2 lakhs 91,92 properties
- Non-residential: 26,289 properties
- Mixed-use: 7,625 properties
- Vacant lands: 2,326 properties
- Others: 03 properties
- Total: 3 lakh 29 thousand 470 properties
Commissioner Shekhar Singh expressed his gratitude to the responsible taxpayers who contributed to achieving the new milestone of Rs 500 crores. He emphasized that the Taxation and Tax Collection Department is actively raising public awareness through various activities, which has led to an increased rate of timely property tax payments. He expects that PCMC’s tax collection target of Rs 1000 crores will be fulfilled in the current financial year. Additionally, the central government’s efforts towards people-oriented reforms in the property tax system are anticipated to bring further improvements in the coming years.
Assistant Commissioner Nilesh Deshmukh highlighted the department’s focus on innovation and new technology for property tax collection. He emphasized that the officers and employees are working diligently to achieve the target of collecting Rs 1000 crores in taxes, with Rs 500 crores already recovered. Property owners are urged to come forward and fulfill their tax obligations to avoid any actions against defaulters.
