Oct. 10: The choice is yours. Pay property tax by whatever method you like — going to the designated bank branches or to respective offices of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation or pay it online.

An online portal, www.myguwahati.in, was launched last week for those who would like to pay their property tax sitting at home by using debit/credit cards.

The Assam Electronics Development Corporation Limited (Amtron), which is the nodal agency for e-governance programmes of the corporation, has designed the portal.

“The principal aim is to increase the collection of property taxes that currently stands at 60 per cent to 80 per cent every year which is the target set by the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Reforms Mission,” a senior official of the GMC said.

The mission requires reforms to be undertaken in the methods of levy, administration and collection of property taxes, with the broad objective of establishing a simple, transparent, non-discretionary and equitable property tax regime that encourages voluntary compliance.

To pay the tax online, the citizens are requested to register themselves on the site by giving the required information.

“The users would be provided with an ID and password to access their tax details as well as view and download the bills,” the official said.

Those who are willing to pay online would be provided with an online receipt.

People also have the option of paying property tax at designated bank branches in the city.

Two banks — AXIS Bank and Union Bank of India — are the banks where taxes can be paid. There are 11 branches of both the banks in the city.

“We found a large number of people paying at the banks. We hope these payment options will increase our rate of collection,” the official said.

The GMC is also negotiating with the SBI for payment of property taxes, as there are a number of branches of the bank, which would help the corporation in extending its reach.

Besides paying online or at the banks, residents can also choose to pay the taxes at the different offices of the GMC.

“We are also now sending the current bills to the residences so that people don’t have to wait for the collectors to come to home which was the trend earlier,” the official said.

“If there is any query or dispute regarding the bill, citizens are requested to get in touch with the authorities to avoid inconveniences,” the official said.

The arrears bills are also being sent without delays.

The official said the earlier practice of sending collectors to the residences was not proving to be successful, as they faced a number of problems like people not being present when collectors went to their residence.