The cash-strapped Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has decided to use point of sale (PoS) machines to collect property tax from the citizens at their doorsteps, thereby improving the tax recovery figure.
AMC commissioner Abhijit Chaudhari on Thursday said the tax recovery staff would visit citizens at their properties with the PoS machines seeking payment of property tax through cash, cheque, or virtual modes.
“These PoS machines are linked with the main data server of the AMC and payment made by citizens will be reflected instantly. Once they make the payments, the taxpayers will get receipts generated through these machines, and they will also receive messages on their registered mobile numbers with links to download the receipts,” he said, adding that payment of water tax too would be done through PoS machines in the near future.
Aparna Thete, the in-charge of AMC’s tax department, said 119 PoS machines will be used for recovery of the property tax with immediate effect.
“The civic administration has received these machines free of cost from a private bank with which we have tied up for the process of tax collection. As the tax payment process has now become simpler, we appeal to citizens to pay their dues at the earliest,” she said.
The local civic body has set a target of Rs 350 crore recovery towards property tax for 2022-23, of which, only Rs 50.7 crore has been collected so far.