Property Tax System Implementation Guide

Section 1: Executive Summary

Overview of the Product

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)

Implementation Methodology for PT

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)

Critical Success Factors For Implementation

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.

Section 2: Property Tax (PT) Product - Overview

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:

1. Registration, Login and Creation of User Profile

2. Filling an Assessment for a Property

3. Searching for a Property

4. Modifications to a Property

5. Generate Demand Notice

6. Payments collection and Receipts

7. Dashboards and Reports

8. General Features

Module 1: Registration, Login and Creation of User Profile

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

Module 2: Filing an Assessment for a Property

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

Module 3: Searching for a Property

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

Module 4: Modifications to a Property

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

Module 5: Generate Demand Notice

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

Module 6: Payments collection and Receipts

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.

Module 7: Reports and Dashboards

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)

Module 8: General Features

Notifications

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.

Legacy Data Migration

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.

Configurable Masters

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

Section 3: Property Tax (PT) Implementation Methodology

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.

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.

Seven Stages of Implementation

Stage 0 - Program Setup/Onboarding

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.

*Details of PT cell is mentioned in section 4 of this handbook

System Integrator(SI) Sign-up

• System Integrator and state will agree on program scope, program timelines, and budgeting & resourcing.

Stage 1 - Program Kick-Off

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.

*Details of PT cell is mentioned in section 4 of this handbook

Stage 2 - Solution Design

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 3 - Configuration & Customization

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 4 - UAT & Go Live

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 5 – Rollout

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.