The computerized and automatic Property Tax system offered by eGov, facilitates citizens who seek to pay their Property Tax within any Urban Local Body with a transparent, speedy, hassle-free and user-friendly procedure. Property Tax (PT) is one of the components of a smart city that has the capability of providing the highest revenue of a state. Keeping in mind the benefits associated with the product offered, the proposed system is about to be implemented in 500+ ULBs across the country in 15 states. (For details on product features refer to Section-2)
For the offered product, the implementation process can be divided into seven major distinctive stages. Each stage has predefined entry and exit criteria, roles & responsibilities to assure objective monitoring and decision-making for the overall success of the engagement. The whole implementation lifecycle is typical of 38-42 weeks for the State, keeping in mind the entry, and exit criteria defined at the beginning and end of each stage are met on time recommended.
Stage Zero-program setup and onboarding is a pre-requisite for the initiative to kick off and requires setup of the governance model, implementation Team and decision regarding other significant elements of the initiative like funding and procurement process. Stage One requires scoping of the initiative and decisions on the priorities for implementation by the State Implementation Team.
Stage Two - the State Team works on identifying and finding solutions to the significant gaps in the product offered with respect to the need of the State. Stage Three - involves the Configuration and customization of the product offered. This involves working on various aspects of State-specific needs and incorporating them into the product offered.
Stage Four - is about doing a pilot launch in UAT and including all the necessary feedback on the product. Stage Five - the roll-out of the product is done at the State level (Go Live) from a couple of ULBs to pan State coverage in batches. Finally, in stage 6 sustenance and ongoing improvements are worked upon while the product is already functioning in the State. (For details on the implementation plan refer to Section 3)
Implementation of Property Tax (PT) requires meticulous planning and close coordination between various stakeholders at the centre and State levels. The success of the initiative is dependent upon many factors like strong Program governance, availability of trained resources, financial planning, targeted Implementation Team onboarding, focus on last-mile capacity building and ensuring necessary support to the Urban centre. Achievement of all these factors will provide the most effective and efficient roll-out and adoption of the Property Tax System in the State.
The Property Tax System(PT) provides a digital interface to make property assessments, pay property tax, generate payment receipts and monitor tax collection. It can be used by the citizens, Urban Local Body (ULB) counter and field employees and ULB Administrators to accomplish their specific tasks. It is available as a mobile and web-based application. The PT product features can be broadly classified as the following modules:
Registration, Login and Creation of User Profile
Filling an Assessment for a Property
Searching for a Property
Modifications to a Property
Generate Demand Notice
Payments collection and Receipts
Dashboards and Reports
General Features
This module provides enables the following capabilities
OTP Based Login for Citizens via Web/Mobile App
OTP Based Login for Employees via Web/Mobile App
Provision for language selection during first-time registration for both Employees and citizens
Provision of creating a personalized Profile for Citizens and employees on the Web App
Login Credentials for various hierarchies of employees
Role-based access for performing different actions relating to property tax modules
With this feature, a citizen and employee can perform a self-assessment of a new property for a financial year. This feature helps in registering the property in the system. The details of the property can be entered online and can be assessed for the calculation of the taxes. The PT Product is designed in a user-friendly manner and reduces the chances of error. The system calculates the tax automatically and creates the demand. If a user wants to reassess his property due to any reason (for eg, incorrect data, change in property etc), it can be done by editing the details of the last assessment. Employees can edit the details of the last assessment, on behalf of the citizen based on the owner’s input. A citizen can track down the status of the incomplete assessment. Any incomplete assessment can be searched and completed.
This module provides enables the following capabilities:
Citizen/CSC can Assess New Property (By Different Financial Years).
Citizen/CSC can capture Addresses, Assessment, and Owner information for all types of properties like residential houses, flats and commercial buildings.
Sample Details captured:
Door Number,
Mutation number,
Number of floors,
Area covered,
Owner and co-owner,
Mailing & permanent address,
Built year
Individual room measurements
The system computes the property taxes automatically as per the process and rules of the state.
The system has a facility to make entries in the system by inspector after a site visit and assessment of the same by the superintendent.
The system supports the dynamic calculation for late fees, interest, rebates, etc. as on the day of demand generation.
The system fetches the data of the previous year's property data while e-filing for the current year so that all the dues are calculated.
The system assigns a unique property ID based on the process defined in the ULBs.
Citizen/CSC: View/Print Summary of Filled Form
Assessment Form
The assessment form is also sent by email to citizen
Upload Documents
Ownership/Title related
ID Proof
Any other statutory documents
Citizens or Employees can track down the status of their incomplete assessment. Any incomplete assessment can be searched and completed.
This module provides the following capabilities:
Citizens/CSC can search for Property by
Mobile No,
City,
Property Tax Unique ID
Citizens/ CSC can view Incomplete Assessments
Citizen/CSC can reassess Searched Property
View Property Details and pending dues
The PT system provides the ability to capture mutation and transfer of ownership. It reduces interfaces between the user and the State and thus promotes greater transparency. It also helps in reducing the time taken for mutation after registration. The system provides the ability for alteration of assessment after verification and inspection.
Any structural changes like addition/extension/reduction of existing built-up area or construction type OR utility changes like usage or occupancy have an impact on the increase/decrease in a property tax demand. These changes can be handled by the ‘Additional/Alteration of Assessment’ feature. The System provides the ability for bifurcation/ amalgamation of property. The property bifurcation/ amalgamation undergoes an approval process. The parent property needs to be modified accordingly, which can be done in the system.
This module provides the following capabilities:
Mutation of property and change of ownership details
Capture Extension/ Addition and Alteration and reassessment based on changed property details
Bifurcation of property
Amalgamation of property
The system has the capability to automatically generate demand notices for a financial year based on set triggers like time-based rollover on completion of a financial year. The system notifies the citizens about the demand through SMS/Email. The generated Bills can also be grouped and printed for physical distribution by the ULB employees. The system provides the capability for Employees to merge and download bills based on given parameters to plan their distribution drives.
This module provides the following capabilities:
Generate Demand Notice based on a periodic basis
Group Demand Notices
Print Demand Notices
Cancel Demand Notices
Send notifications to citizens on demand generation- SMS, Whatsapp, Email, Physical bill
The citizen/ employee can view the payment status of previous assessments from the Assessment History section. Payment for any assessment with full or partially paid amount can be completed. Receipts for assessment can be downloaded in the Assessment history section after searching for the property details.
This module provides the following capabilities:
Payment of Property Tax -Online, Cheque, Cash, DD, during the assessment
Partial Payment of Property Tax -Online, Cheque, Cash, DD, during the assessment
The system allows a citizen to pay for anyone's property without changing the demand
The system can also be integrated with PoS machines to enable doorstep collection of property tax and the issue of a receipt.
PT reports provide the facility to access the receipt register, cancelled receipt register, account receipt register, ULB-wise PT collection report, and DCB Register. All reports can be downloaded in PDF/XLS format. State-level administrators can monitor property tax collections, assessments and other information at a state level through dashboards.
This module provides the following capabilities:
State Dashboard: View Reports for Total Collections, Properties Assessed, ULBs on Prod, Usage Type, Payment Distribution
State Dashboard: PT Collection Timeline (Monthly, Weekly)
State Dashboard: ULB Wise (Collection, Assessments)
Cancelled Receipt Register Report
PT Collection Report (ULB/Date Wise)
The system has the capability to send notifications to citizens. These notifications can be sent for various steps like - assessment completion, payment reminder, and payment confirmation. These notifications can be sent in the language chosen by the ULB through all channels - SMS, Whatsapp, and Email.
The system has the capability to migrate Demand and Collection. In most states, the preliminary step would be to migrate Legacy data of existing properties/connections along with the Demand and Collection details. This would ensure that subsequent demand generation happens through the system.
The system provides the following masters that can be configured as per the State’s requirements:
Charges & Calculation: Calculation Engine, Rebate, Penalty,
Rate Master
State Masters: Property Ontology, Documents List, Employee Data Mapping, Boundary Data Mapping
7
Land administration and Transfer of Land and Property
3
Digitize land transaction deeds of last 10 years at all sub-registrar offices and make the same available on an online system to check for ownership details and history. The metadata should be searchable for each record and a soft copy of the registered deed should be available. The searchable metadata available should be:
i. Name of buyer
ii. Name of seller
iii. Survey no.
iv. Registration number
v. Registration date
The feature of ‘Property Registry’ in the product will enable this recommendation
8
Land administration and Transfer of Land and Property
3
Digitize and publish the updated Record of Rights (ROR) at all Revenue department offices online in public domain for all areas of the State/UT. The searchable metadata available should be:
i. Name of buyer
ii. Name of seller
iii. Date of mutation
iv. Survey no.
The Property tax system enables this capability
9
Land administration and Transfer of Land and Property
2
Digitize and publish data of Property Tax payment dues online in public domain for all the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the State/UT. The searchable metadata available should be:
i. Name of the Property Tax payer
ii. Property Tax dues
iii. Survey no. of land / Unique Identification no. of property
This feature is enabled by the citizens itself
10
Land administration and Transfer of Land and Property
2
Digitize cadastral maps of all rural areas in the State/UT and make them available in public domain
This can be enabled and worked on by the state team
11
Land administration and Transfer of Land and Property
5
Integrate the below-mentioned records on one website:
i. Data of land transaction deeds for last 10 years at all sub-registrar offices (Name of buyer, Name of seller, Registration number, Registration date, Survey no.),
ii. Updated Record of Rights at all Revenue department offices (Date of mutation), and
iii. Data of Property Tax payment dues at all urban areas of the State/UT (Name of the Property Tax payer, Property Tax dues)
iv. Revenue Court case data (Court case number, Name of parties involved, Date of filing of court case, Status of case [Ongoing/Resolved])
v. Civil Court case data (Court case number, Name of parties involved, Date of filing of court case, Status of case [Ongoing/Resolved])
The website should be publicly accessible. It will help in establishing property ownership and identify tax encumbrances. The integration should be done for all areas of the State/UT.
The integration with external portals and systems of other departments can be enabled by state teams who can enhance the offered product to cater to this recommendation
12
Land administration and Transfer of Land and Property
2
Implement an online application system having the following features
i. Mandatory Online application submission including submission of draft deed and other documents
ii. Provision of online payment of Stamp duty and Registration fee
iii. Auto generation of appointment date and time on making the payment of Stamp duty and Registration fee
The system will provide these capabilities which can be customized as per the state specific rules and regulations
13
Land administration and Transfer of Land and Property
1
Provide model deed templates for sale, gift, lease, mortgage and rent in downloadable and editable format along with instructions to use them
This provision is made available through the ULB portal to make these features accessible to the citizens
14
Land administration and Transfer of Land and Property
2
Integrate the mutation process with the registration process and mandate initiation of mutation process (Revenue department and/ or ULB) as soon as the deed is registered. Ensure that:
i. Information to mutation authority to be automatically shared on completion of transaction (registration). This should be considered as initiation of mutation process.
ii. No separate application from transferee to be required.
iii. SMS/email should be sent to transferee/ transferor to inform about the initiation of mutation
The integration with external portals and systems of other departments can be enabled by state teams who can enhance the offered product to cater to this recommendation
This section provides an overview of the methodology for State-wide implementation of PT. The Implementation of PT is distributed across seven distinct stages. Each stage has predefined entry & exit criteria and roles & responsibilities. This is to ensure objective monitoring and decision-making for the overall success of the program. Details of each stage are defined in this section.
Note: This document is specific for States that have more than 30 ULBs
PT implementation program is expected to be completed approximately between 38- 42 weeks depending on the variety of Processes, Integration and the Disparate legacy data systems involved. This is done with the resource deployment by the State and System Integrator (SI) Team. However, it is critical that activities and exit criteria set for each stage are achieved to adhere to this timeline.
This is a set of initial critical activities undertaken on receiving a letter of Enrollment or MOU from the State. Successful completion of these activities assures that the program is started with crucial personnel, System Integrator(SI) Teams, and funds.
Stage 0 - Program Setup/ On-Boarding
Duration
4-6 weeks
Entry Criteria
Acceptance Letter/MoU by State
Exit Criteria
Finalize Property Tax Program Vision
Finalize funding for the program
Define State- specific procurement process
Property Tax Cell appointment (*). Consisting of :
Domain expert
Nodal officer (EO/ Commissioner/ Senior Official)
Program Head
System Integrator(SI) Team sign-up/onboarding
*Details of PT cell is mentioned in section 4 of this handbook
System Integrator and state will agree on program scope, program timelines, and budgeting & resourcing.
This stage envisages in-person interaction of crucial State officials and implementation System Integrator(SI) Teams to kick-start the program. This stage may require multiple interactions/meetings with different interest groups. The principal objective of these interactions is to identify and agree on the scope and exclusions of Pilot ULBs, create an active collaboration & Governance approach and agree on a high-level timeline for the engagement.
Duration
4-6 weeks
Entry Criteria
Program setup (Stage 0) is complete
SI Team onboarded
Key Activities
Identify & agree on scope and exclusions
Identify pilot ULBs
Project Kickoff - Implementation Methodology Presentation
Product Walkthroughs
Define Project Steering Committee Structure and Project Governance process
Define phases of rollout/ deployment
Agreement on Deployment Priorities and high-level delivery timelines
Assessment of all current PT processes along
(1) Citizen services/channels around it
(2) Integration with other Department process
Finalise Program Success Metrics for Rollout, Adoption and Governance, adhering to the vision of the program
Internal Capacity Building, program logistics at State and ULBs, as per the current scenario
Collection of baseline data to measure endline target for the product (Revenue generated, total properties in ULBs etc.)
Exit Criteria
Publish the program charter
Implementation plan agreement with priority applications and broad timelines
Program Governance Model and processes
Program Success Metrics
Capacity Building
PT Cell formation and appointment (*)
Data preparation/collection kickoff from Pilot ULBs
Cloud Infrastructure procured
Project Office Space allocated
Program Branding (name, logo, tagline etc.)
*Details of PT cell is mentioned in section 4 of this handbook
During the Solution design stage, key State officials and members, who are subject matter experts, are expected to share their inputs, discuss the process and help understand how to bring in compliance around the system design for the System Integrator(SI) Team. This stage baselines the State-specific product features in the Product Configuration report.
Stage 2 - Solution Design
Duration
4-6 weeks
Entry Criteria
Program Charter
PT Cell appointment
Key Activities
Standardisation of all PT processes
Initiate policy change if needed, based on the Processes defined
Conduct Product familiarisation workshop
Initiate collection of master data from pilot ULBs
Finalise data migration/collection/sync-up approach
Finalise data validation approach
Capacity Building for making state team aware about basic usage of tools like MS Office, mails etc.
Dashboard design finalisation for Program Tracking
Exit Criteria
Publish the PT processes, data template/workflows
Finalisation of Roll-out plan (in different phases)
Solution agreement for required State- specific customisations
Program tracking mechanism (Dashboard design finalisation)
Sign-off on approach to work with legacy or manual data (Data collection/migration/correction/ sync-up/validation)
Detailed project plan
This stage consists of a series of developments in accordance with the detailed project plan to ensure the smooth functioning of the customised product. Master Data Collection & Environment Setup will be achieved in this phase. Further monitoring and maintenance strategies are put in place.
Stage 3 – Configuration & Customization
Duration
6-8 weeks
Entry Criteria
Product Configuration Report has been signed off by the state
Detailed Project Plan set up in accordance with master data collection and environment setup
Key Activities
Setting up development environments
Development/customisation of reports and dashboards
Development/ integration of portal
Third-Party integrations (payment gateway, handheld/pos device)
Updation of user manuals and other key documents
Preparation & execution of Test Cases
Setup monitoring, support & maintenance processes, tools and dashboards
PT legacy data collection from Pilot ULBs(at least). No historical transaction will be considered. Only outstanding and property details shall be migrated
Capacity Building for making state team aware about basic usage of tools like MS Office, mails etc.
Identify ULB level Nodal officers for day to day support
Migration and verification of Pilot ULB data
Exit Criteria
Configured/Customized product that is ready for UAT
Monitoring, support & maintenance of Dashboards
Finalization of Initial Reporting and Dashboard KPIs
Identification of participants for UAT session
Training for System Content related Capacity Building finalised
During this stage, a demonstration of the product followed by a hands-on session is conducted for the ULB officials. Necessary training of ULB officials and resources required for UAT is conducted and identified respectively. The establishment of the State Support Team and required processes are initiated in this stage.
Stage 4 – UAT & Go Live
Duration
2-3 weeks
Entry Criteria
Configured/Customized product ready for UAT
Pilot ULB Officials associated with TL are available for UAT & Training
Key Activities
UAT Environment Setup
Regression UAT and sign off from Pilot ULBs/ State
Issues/bug resolution
Setting up the Production environment
Setting up Support Center & processes (Help Desk)
Training (Users, trainer)
master trainers identified from ground for simultaneous training
Training the support resources
Marketing & promotion activities
Go Live & launch event
Setup of review and monitoring cadence/team
Usage/review/Dashboard/Field Visits
Exit Criteria
UAT Sign-off & Go Live for Pilot ULBs
Setup of review and monitoring cadence
On successful Go-Live in the Pilot ULBs, and further fine-tuning to stabilize the product, the solution will be rolled out to the rest of the ULBs in phases. Guidance and support from the State Team will be required to create the rollout plans and assure the necessary infrastructure for training and deployment is available at each ULB.
Note: The rollout phase needs to be detailed out for iterative activities of onboarding ULBs in batches.
Stage 5 – Rollout
Duration
5-6 weeks
Entry Criteria
Pilot has been successful in the State
there are less than 3 open critical incidents (issues) with respect to product, implementation and data
Key Activities