New Delhi: With only two days left before the June 30 deadline to claim a rebate on advance property tax payment for 2026-27, some Delhiites are complaining of technical glitches on Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD) integrated portal, saying they are finding it difficult to pay taxes.Claiming that MCD has, without prior public intimation, introduced a mandatory feature requiring taxpayers to enter the consumer number of their electricity meter while paying property tax, they said that property owners filing taxes remotely or through representatives, particularly for tenanted properties, may not have the consumer number readily available.“While the step is welcome, the civic body should ideally have informed residents about this feature in advance for their convenience and to save time,” said Atul Goyal of United Residents Joint Action (URJA).However, MCD officials said the feature will help them verify whether commercial properties are being taxed at residential rates during self-assessment. “People receive electricity bills through email or messages, so entering the consumer number should not be a problem,” an official said.The aggrieved residents also said the portal is slow due to heavy traffic as the rebate deadline approaches. Officials attributed the problem to the last-minute rush and said assistance was being provided to resolve the issue.Some also expressed concern that user charges paid earlier were being added to the tax unless the data is manually reviewed before payment. Though many have sought a refund following subsequent policy changes, MCD officials said there is no proposal to refund user charges already collected.Chitra Mukherjee, a resident of CR Park, questioned MCD’s “lack of accountability”. She said, “I paid the user charges along with my property tax last year. After the charges were withdrawn, we were assured that the amount would be adjusted against this year’s tax. When the adjustment did not reflect in the bills, I exchanged several emails with MCD but received no concrete response.”Others said the corporation took considerable time to integrate the General Trade Licence (GTL) and Factory Trade Licence systems with the property tax portal, limiting the number of taxpayers who could benefit from the reforms announced last year.Sanjay Bhargava, a trader from Chandni Chowk, said the provision letting traders pay only 15% of their property tax as GTL fee was integrated only this month. “What about people like us who have already paid the fee at a higher rate? Will we get a refund? Ideally, one should delay paying taxes,” he said.Even after the integration, owners of mixed-use properties, where shops operate on ground floors and people live on upper floors, alleged that the portal is calculating the GTL fee on the property tax of the entire building instead of only the commercial portion.“I waited all this while to benefit from the reforms and avail of the 10% rebate on advance property tax payment. While MCD has fixed some issues, such as charging 15% of the property tax separately for each shop, several problems remain. Why should a shop owner pay a licence fee based on the entire property’s tax when only part of it is used commercially?” said Nitin Agarwal of the Kamla Nagar Traders Association.Association members also said certain businesses, including salons, beauty parlours and dry cleaners, continue to figure under both GTL and Health Trade Licence (HTL) categories. “One is left confused about whether he should obtain a GTL or an HTL to run the business smoothly,” said Kapil Arora, a trader from Kamla Nagar.
