Property Tax System - Functional Specifications

Functional overview for stakeholders

Introduction

The Property Tax System provides a digital interface to make property assessments, pay property tax, generate payment receipts and monitor tax collection. The citizens can use it, Urban Local Body (ULB) counter field employees and ULB Administrators to accomplish their specific tasks. It is available as a mobile and web-based application.

Functional Scope

The property tax application 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

Registration, Login and Creation of User Profile

• 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 the various hierarchy of employees

• Role-based access for performing different actions relating to property tax modules

Filing For Property Assessment

This feature enables citizens and employees to self-assess a new property for a financial year. It 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 property tax system design is user-friendly and reduces the chances of error. The system calculates the tax automatically and creates the demand. If a user wants to reassess his property for any reason (for example - incorrect data, change in property etc), it can be done by editing the details of the last assessment.

An employee can edit the details of the last assessment, on behalf of the citizen based on the owner’s input. Citizens can track down the status of their incomplete assessment. Any incomplete assessment can be searched and completed.

• Citizen/CSC can assess new property (by different financial years).

• Citizen/CSC can capture Address, Assessment Info, and Owner information for all property types like residential houses, flats and commercial buildings.

o Sample Details captured include -

• 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 state-specific processes and rules.

• The system has a facility to make entries in the system by the inspector after a site visit and assessment of the same by the superintendent.

• The system dynamically calculates the late fees, interest, rebates, etc for demand generation.

• The system fetches the previous year's property data while e-filing the current year to calculate the dues.

• 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

• Assessment form is also sent by email to citizen

• Upload documents

• Ownership/Title related

• ID Proof

• Any other statutory documents

Searching for a Property

Citizens or employees can track down the status of their incomplete assessment. Any incomplete assessment can be searched and completed.

• Citizens/CSC can search for property using

  • Mobile No

  • City

  • Property Tax Unique ID

• Citizens/ CSC can view incomplete assessments

• Citizens/CSC can reassess searched property

• View property details and pending dues

Modifications to a Property

The property tax 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 impact the increase/decrease in 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.

• 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

Generate Demand Notice

The system can automatically generate demand notices for a financial year based on set triggers like time-based rollover on the 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 enables employees to merge and download bills based on defined parameters to plan distribution drives.

• Generate demand notice based periodically

• Group demand notices

• Print demand notices

• Cancel demand notices

• Send notifications to citizens on demand generation- SMS, WhatsApp, Email, physical bill

Payments collection and Receipts

The citizen/ employee can view the payment status of previous assessments from the Assessment History section. It allows users to pay assessment fees fully or partially. Assessment receipts can be downloaded from the assessment history section within the property details.

• Payment of property tax - online, cheque, cash, DD, during assessment

• Partial payment of property tax - online, cheque, cash, DD, during 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 issue of receipt

Reports and Dashboards

Property tax 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.

• 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)

General Features

Notifications - The system can 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 can 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

System specification in compliance with the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) BRAP 2019.

Reform No.	Reform Area	Weightage (score)	Recommendation	Remarks
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 customised 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

List of Features- Property Tax

List of Functionalities	Corresponding Features
Registration, Login, Creation of User Profile	Provision for Language Selection during first time registration via Mobile/ Web App.
OTP Based Login for Citizen/ Employee via Mobile/ Web App
Login Credentials for various hierarchy of employees.
Provision of Personalized Profile for Citizen/ Employee on Web App
Filing an assessment for a property	Citizen/CSC : Assess New Property (By Different Financial Years).
Citizen/CSC : Capture Address, Assessment Info, Owner Info.
Citizen/CSC : View/Print Summary of Filled Form
Searching for a property	Citizen/CSC : Search Property (By Mobile No,City, Property Tax Unique ID, Existing ID).
Citizen/CSC : View the Searched Property
Citizen : View My Properties
Citizen : View Incomplete Assessments
Citizen/CSC : Edit the Searched Property
Citizen/CSC : Reassess Searched Property
Generate demand notice	Generate Demand Notice based on periodic basis
Group/ Print/ Cancel Demand Notices
Send notifications to citizens on demand generation- SMS, Whatsapp, Email, Physical bill
Modifications to a property	Mutation of property and change of ownership details
Capture Extension/ Addition and Alteration and reassessment based on changed property details
Bifurcation/ Amalgamation of property
Payment collection and receipts	Payment of TAX (Online,Cheque,Cash,DD) : During Assessment
Payment of TAX (Online,Cheque,Cash,DD) : Partial Payment
Citizen/CSC : Download Receipts for payments
Dashboards and reports	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)
General features	Notification
Legacy data migration
System assigns a unique property ID based on the Process defined in the ULBs.
System has the facility to classify the property based on its type.
System allows changing the type of property.
Configuration masters	Configurable Rate Master (ULB Specific) : Fire Cess/ Building Height
Charges & Calculation : Calculation Engine, Rebate, Penalty
State Masters : Property Ontology, Documents List, Employee Data Mapping, Boundary Data Mapping