Property tax receipt missing — RTI to municipal corporation

Sunita bought a resale two-bedroom flat in Indore in November 2023. The seller assured her, in writing, that all municipal dues were cleared and handed over the last two years' property-tax receipts. Eighteen months later, when Sunita applied for a top-up loan of about Rs.18 lakh to renovate, the bank's legal verifier asked for five years' continuous property-tax receipts as proof that no municipal dues had accumulated on the property.

That is when the trouble started. The Indore Municipal Corporation's online citizen portal showed only the current year and the immediately preceding year. The older receipts were simply not downloadable. Sunita visited the zone revenue office with her property ID number; the clerk looked up the ledger on a desktop, said “the entry is being verified,” and asked her to come back in two weeks. She came back. The file, she was told, had been “sent to the accounts section.” Three visits and two months later, she still held no paper.

Sunita's case is not rare. Across India, property-tax records sit in municipal revenue registers that are only partly digitised. Owners lose original receipts to damp cupboards, sellers hand over incomplete sets, and bank legal verifiers demand a clean five-year trail before a loan can move. The fastest, cheapest and legally enforceable way to get that trail is a single application under the Right to Information Act, 2005. This guide walks you through it, using only verified facts.

Property tax in India is a State tax. Entry 49 of the State List (List II, Seventh Schedule of the Constitution) gives State Legislatures the exclusive power to levy “Taxes on lands and buildings.” This is why the rate, the rebate, the penalty and the collection cycle differ from one city to the next, and why no Central law fixes your property-tax bill.

The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 (in force from 1 June 1993) inserted Part IXA into the Constitution, with Articles 243P to 243ZG. Article 243Q creates three types of urban local bodies: a Nagar Panchayat for a transitional area, a Municipal Council for a smaller urban area, and a Municipal Corporation for a larger urban area. Article 243X authorises State Legislatures to empower these bodies to levy, collect and appropriate property taxes, duties, tolls and fees. So when you pay property tax, you pay it to a body that the Constitution itself created and that your State Act governs.

One point that often confuses buyers: property tax is not part of GST. The 101st Constitutional Amendment that introduced GST deliberately left Entry 49 untouched. GST applies to construction services and to the renting or leasing of immovable property (treated as a supply of services), but it does not touch the annual property tax you pay for owning or occupying land and buildings. That tax stays entirely with your State and your municipality.

Every Municipal Corporation is a “public authority” under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act, 2005, and must designate Public Information Officers for each department — Revenue, Accounts, Town Planning, Engineering, Public Health, Birth and Death, and so on — along with a First Appellate Authority. The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, for example, publishes its PIO and FAA list on its website. The officer who holds your property-tax ledger is the Revenue or Property Tax PIO, and that is where your application goes.

To ask a sharp question, you need to know what records exist. A typical Municipal Corporation keeps the following for each assessed property:

1. Property Tax Demand Register / Ledger — the master running record of every year's demand, payment, rebate, interest and arrears for your property tax assessment number.
2. Receipt counterfoils / e-receipts — numbered receipts (manual or system-generated) for each payment, linked to your Property ID / SAS number / assessment number.
3. Assessment Register / Property Tax Return file — the basis on which annual tax is computed: plinth area, usage (residential/commercial), age, depreciation, rateable value or unit-area-based value.
4. Revision / quarry / reassessment notices — any notice issued under the State Municipal Act to revise your assessment, with the date and the reason.
5. Arrears and interest register — the cumulative unpaid balance with the monthly/annual interest rate the State rules fix.

When you pay online through portals like tnurbanepay.tn.gov.in (Tamil Nadu Urban e-Sevai) or the MyCURE app in Telangana, the system generates an e-receipt and updates the ledger in real time. Older years, however, often exist only as manual entries in the demand register or as scanned images on the municipal server that the counter staff cannot pull up quickly. Citing your Property ID / SAS number / assessment number in the RTI is what lets the PIO locate the record in minutes instead of weeks.

For financial year 2026-27, several major cities run an early-bird rebate of about 5% on property tax paid before 30 April 2026, with a penalty of roughly 1% per month on late payment under the respective State rules. The verified 2026-27 examples:

1. Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC): 5% rebate for payment before 30 April 2026; late payment attracts a 1% penalty under Tamil Nadu rules.
2. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC): 5% “Early Bird Scheme” rebate, deadline 30 April, applicable on current-year dues only.
3. Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC): 5% rebate on property tax and vacant-land tax for 2026-27 by 30 April, plus a 50% waiver on accumulated interest for arrears cleared in lump sum by 30 April, under Section 264(3) of the Andhra Pradesh Municipal Corporations Act, 1955.

The rates and deadlines vary by state and city. Confirm your own municipal corporation's rebate schedule before you file, because the rebate window directly affects what your ledger should show. If your RTI reply reveals that a payment was made within the rebate window but the ledger did not credit the rebate, you have grounds to seek a correction — and the receipts you obtain under RTI are the proof.

This is a State RTI. Your application goes to the Municipal Corporation's PIO, not to a Central ministry.

Step 1 — Identify the public authority and the PIO.

1. The public authority is your Municipal Corporation / Municipal Council / Nagar Panchayat (depending on your town, per Article 243Q).
2. The designated officer is the State Public Information Officer, Revenue/Property Tax Department of that body. Check the corporation's website for its published PIO/FAA list. If no PIO is designated, address the application to the Municipal Commissioner, who is then responsible for forwarding it under Section 5(4) of the RTI Act.

Step 2 — Prepare your questions. Ask for specific, dated records tied to your property tax assessment number. Five strong questions:

1. Receipts: “Furnish certified copies of all property-tax receipts issued against Property Tax Assessment No. [..] / Property ID [..] / SAS No. [..] for the financial years 2021-22 to 2025-26, showing receipt number, date, amount and mode of payment.”
2. Ledger: “Furnish a certified extract of the Property Tax Demand Register / ledger for Assessment No. [..] for the financial years 2021-22 to 2025-26, showing year-wise demand, payments, rebates, interest and arrears.”
3. Dues: “Furnish the statement of outstanding property-tax dues, if any, including interest, as on [date] for Assessment No. [..].”
4. Rebate: “Furnish the rebate eligibility and rebate actually credited for Assessment No. [..] for FY 2026-27, including the rebate percentage, the cutoff date and the amount.”
5. Revision notices: “Furnish copies of all property-tax revision, quarry or reassessment notices issued for Assessment No. [..] during 2021-22 to 2025-26, with date and the reason for revision.”

Step 3 — Use the right form and fee.

1. The application is in writing or electronic means, in English, Hindi or the official language of the area, under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act. You need not give any reason for asking (Section 6(2)).
2. The application should ordinarily not exceed 500 words.
3. Fee: Under the Central RTI (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2012, the fee is Rs.10, payable by cash against receipt, Indian Postal Order, demand draft, banker's cheque (payable to the Accounts Officer of the public authority) or electronic means. BPL applicants are exempt on producing a BPL certificate. State rules may prescribe a different fee or mode — verify your State RTI (Fee and Cost) Rules before filing. Many states also fix Rs.10 but the mode (court-fee stamp vs IPO vs online) differs.
4. For filing online, use the AI RTI draft app at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/ai-rti-draft-app.html to generate the application, and see RTI for Beginners: Everything You Need to Know Before Filing Your if this is your first RTI.

Step 4 — Submit and keep proof. File by hand at the PIO's office and take a stamped receiving copy, or send by registered post and keep the acknowledgement, or file through your State's online RTI portal and save the registration number. Proof of submission is your protection if the reply is delayed.

Step 5 — Wait 30 days. The PIO must reply within 30 days of receipt under Section 7(1) (48 hours where the information concerns the life or liberty of a person — not the usual case for a tax-receipt request).

Step 6 — If the application reaches the wrong officer. Under Section 6(3), if your application is sent to a PIO who does not hold the information, that PIO must transfer it to the correct PIO within 5 days and inform you. So a misdirected application is not lost — but you should still address it as precisely as possible to save those five days.

RTI is powerful because it has a built-in ladder. If the PIO ignores you or gives a vague reply, you do not stop there.

1. Deemed refusal: If the PIO does not reply within the 30-day period, you can, on day 31, treat the silence as a deemed refusal and file a first appeal without waiting for an explicit denial.
2. First appeal (Section 19(1)): File within 30 days from the expiry of the PIO's reply period (or from receipt of a denial) before the First Appellate Authority — an officer senior in rank to the PIO within the same public authority. The FAA can admit a delayed appeal on sufficient cause. The FAA must dispose of it within 30 days, extendable to 45 days with recorded reasons (Section 19(6)).
3. Second appeal (Section 19(3)): If the FAA also fails you, file within 90 days before your State Information Commission (municipal corporations are State public authorities). The Commission can admit a delayed second appeal on sufficient cause. Under Section 19(5), the burden of proving that the denial was justified is on the PIO. The Commission's decision is binding (Section 19(7)) and it can order disclosure, systemic changes, compensation and penalties (Section 19(8)).
4. Penalty (Section 20(1)): A PIO who, without reasonable cause, refuses to receive an application, fails to furnish information within the Section 7(1) time, mala fidely denies it, knowingly gives incorrect, incomplete or misleading information, destroys information or obstructs furnishing, faces a penalty of Rs.250 per day until the information is furnished, up to a maximum of Rs.25,000, after a reasonable opportunity of hearing. Persistent failure can invite a recommendation for disciplinary action (Section 20(2)).

Use the timeline calculator at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/timeline-calculator-app.html to mark your 30-day, first-appeal and second-appeal deadlines accurately, and the first-appeal drafting tool at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/first-appeal-app.html to prepare the appeal.

1. A copy of your property tax assessment / latest receipt / e-receipt (if you have one) — so the PIO can match the assessment number.
2. Your Property ID / SAS number / Property Tax Identification Number as printed on the corporation's demand notice or portal.
3. Proof of Rs.10 fee payment — IPO, banker's cheque, cash receipt or online transaction reference, as your State rules allow.
4. BPL certificate if you are claiming the fee waiver.
5. A copy of the sale deed / mutation entry if you are a recent buyer asking for receipts that predate your ownership (you are still entitled to records of the property you now own and assess).
6. A self-addressed stamped envelope if you want the reply by post (some State rules expect this).

1. Not citing the assessment / Property ID / SAS number. Without it, the PIO cannot locate the ledger and will return the application as “information not reasonably identifiable.” Always put the number in the subject line and in every question.
2. Asking for someone else's property-tax records. Third-party property-tax payment and ledger records are “personal information” exempt under Section 8(1)(j) unless a larger public interest is established, and the Section 11 third-party notice-and-objection procedure is mandatory before any disclosure. The Supreme Court in Girish Ramchandra Deshpande v. Central Information Commissioner, (2013) 1 SCC 212 held that an individual's asset and property details are personal information under Section 8(1)(j). You are, however, fully entitled to records of your own property.
3. Filing at the wrong municipality. If your property is in a Municipal Council area, do not file at the Municipal Corporation. Section 6(3) transfer will redirect you, but it costs you five days.
4. Asking vague questions. “Give me my property tax details” produces a brochure. Ask for named records with dates and assessment numbers — receipts, ledger extract, dues statement, rebate status, revision notices.
5. Assuming the Central Rs.10 fee applies everywhere. State RTI (Fee and Cost) Rules, framed under Sections 27 and 28 of the Act, can fix a different amount or mode. Verify your State's rules before paying.
6. Treating a rebate as a guaranteed 5-10%. Rebates are city-specific (5% by 30 April is common in several major cities for FY 2026-27, but rates and deadlines vary). Confirm your local schedule.
7. Waiting beyond 30 days for an “explicit denial.” Silence on day 31 is a deemed refusal — file your first appeal immediately.

To
The State Public Information Officer,
Revenue / Property Tax Department,
[Name of Municipal Corporation / Council],
[City, Pin Code].

Subject: Application under Section 6(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 —
 certified copies of property-tax receipts and ledger for Assessment No. [..].

Sir/Madam,

I, [full name], owner/occupier of the property bearing Property Tax
Assessment No. [..] / Property ID [..] / SAS No. [..], situated at
[full address], hereby request the following information under Section
6(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005. No reason is being furnished
as required under Section 6(2).

1. Certified copies of all property-tax receipts issued against
   Assessment No. [..] for FY 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and
   2025-26, showing receipt number, date, amount and mode of payment.
2. Certified extract of the Property Tax Demand Register / ledger for
   Assessment No. [..] for FY 2021-22 to 2025-26, showing year-wise
   demand, payments, rebates, interest and arrears.
3. Statement of outstanding property-tax dues, if any, including
   interest, as on [date].
4. Rebate eligibility and rebate actually credited for Assessment
   No. [..] for FY 2026-27, with rebate percentage and cutoff date.
5. Copies of any property-tax revision / quarry / reassessment notices
   issued for Assessment No. [..] during FY 2021-22 to 2025-26.

The information sought does not involve any third-party personal
information; it relates to my own assessed property. If this
application is to be transferred to another PIO who holds the
information, kindly do so within 5 days under Section 6(3) and inform
me.

I have deposited the application fee of Rs.10 by [IPO No. .. / DD No. ..
/ cash receipt No. .. / online reference No. ..]. I belong to the
Below Poverty Line category and enclose a BPL certificate (if
applicable).

If the information is not furnished within the period prescribed under
Section 7(1), I shall file a first appeal under Section 19(1) and,
if necessary, a second appeal under Section 19(3) before the State
Information Commission, with a request for penalty under Section 20(1).

Place: [..]
Date: [..]
[Signature]
[Name, address, phone, email]

Yes. The property-tax ledger is maintained against the assessment number, not against the owner's name. Once you are the assessed owner on the municipal register, you can seek certified copies of receipts and ledger entries for earlier years for that assessment. The records relate to your property, not to a third party, so the Section 8(1)(j) bar on personal information does not apply in the ordinary course.

Not as of right. Records of another person's property — payment details, arrears, ledger — are “personal information” exempt under Section 8(1)(j) unless a larger public interest is established, and the Section 11 third-party procedure applies. The Supreme Court's decision in Girish Ramchandra Deshpande (2013) 1 SCC 212 treats individual asset and property details as personal information. The safer route before buying is to ask the seller to obtain the ledger extract in their own name and hand it to you. See rti-property-records-before-buying for the due-diligence approach.

A receipt “not traceable” is not a lawful denial. The ledger / demand register is the master record and is maintained permanently; a certified extract of the ledger entry for each year, showing the payment, is legally equivalent proof that tax was paid. Ask specifically for the ledger extract as an alternative. If the PIO still refuses, escalate to the First Appellate Authority under Section 19(1) and then to the State Information Commission under Section 19(3).

No. Rs.10 is the fee under the Central RTI (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2012. Under Sections 27 and 28 of the Act, State Governments frame their own fee and cost rules. Many states also prescribe Rs.10, but the mode of payment (court-fee stamp, IPO, cash, online) and the amount can differ. Verify your State's RTI Rules before paying. See RTI Fees by State and Online Portal Directory (2026) for a state-wise summary.

Yes. A certified copy furnished by a Public Information Officer under the RTI Act is admissible as proof of tax paid, on the same footing as a certified copy issued under the municipal law. Banks, registrars and courts routinely accept RTI-furnished municipal records. If a bank insists on the original, ask the PIO for a certified copy with the seal and the certifying officer's name — that carries the same evidentiary weight.

No. Section 6(2) of the RTI Act expressly says the applicant need not give any reason for requesting information. Do not write “I need this for a loan” or “the seller cheated me” — it is irrelevant and can only invite side arguments. Keep the application to the records you want.

On day 31 from submission, the silence is a deemed refusal under the Act. File a first appeal to the First Appellate Authority under Section 19(1) within 30 days of that deemed refusal. Use https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/timeline-calculator-app.html to compute the exact dates and https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/pio-reply-checker-app.html to assess whether the reply you eventually get is complete.

If your State has an online RTI portal, yes. The Central portal at rtionline.gov.in does not cover State municipal corporations unless your State has integrated with it. Many states run their own portals. For drafting the application, use the AI RTI draft tool at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/ai-rti-draft-app.html . If no online portal exists, file by registered post and keep the acknowledgement.

Usually no. In the verified 2026-27 city examples, the 5% early-bird rebate applies to current-year dues paid before 30 April. For arrears, some cities (such as GVMC under Section 264(3) of the AP Municipal Corporations Act, 1955) offer a 50% waiver on accumulated interest if the arrears are cleared in lump sum by the cutoff date. The principal arrears are generally not rebated. Confirm your own corporation's arrears policy in the RTI reply.

The certified ledger extract obtained under RTI is evidence. If your sale agreement contains an indemnity for undisclosed municipal dues (most standard resale agreements do), you can recover the amount from the seller. The same document lets you approach the municipal revenue officer to clear the dues and obtain a no-dues certificate. See property-tax-arrears-previous-owner-after-flat-purchase for the full procedure.

1. RTI Act, 2005 — full text hosted by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways: [iahe.morth.gov.in](https://iahe.morth.gov.in/sites/default/files/2025-02/RTI-Act-2005.pdf)
2. RTI (Regulation of Fee and Cost) Rules, 2012 — NITI Aayog: [niti.gov.in](https://niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2025-07/RTI%20Rules%20Final%20PDF.pdf)
3. DoPT FAQ on RTI Rules, 2012: [dopt.gov.in](https://dopt.gov.in/sites/default/files/FAQ_RTI%202012%20(1).pdf)
4. Constitution of India — State List, Entry 49: [constitutionofindia.net](https://www.constitutionofindia.net/schedules/list-ii-state-list/)
5. 74th Constitutional Amendment and Urban Local Bodies — Mahadma, Maharashtra: [mahadma.maharashtra.gov.in](https://mahadma.maharashtra.gov.in/en/74th-constitutional-amendment-and-urban-local-bodies-in-india/)
6. Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation — RTI PIO/FAA list: [gvmc.gov.in](https://www.gvmc.gov.in/wss/static_content/Right%20to%20Information.jsp)
7. GCC 5% property-tax rebate for early payment, FY 2026-27: [newstodaynet.com](https://newstodaynet.com/2026/04/30/gcc-offers-5-property-tax-rebate-for-early-payment/)
8. GHMC Early Bird Scheme, April 2026: [newindianexpress.com](https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/hyderabad/2026/Apr/16/ghmc-urges-property-owners-to-utilise-early-bird-scheme)
9. GVMC property-tax and interest rebate, FY 2026-27 (Section 264(3), AP Municipal Corporations Act, 1955): [thehansindia.com](https://www.thehansindia.com/andhra-pradesh/last-date-to-clear-property-tax-due-for-interest-rebate-extended-1064784)
10. Girish Ramchandra Deshpande v. Central Information Commissioner, (2013) 1 SCC 212 — ITAT Online digest: [itatonline.org](https://itatonline.org/digest/girish-ramchandra-deshpande-v-central-information-commissioner-ors-2013-1-scc-212-manu-sc-0816-2012/)
11. Tamil Nadu Urban e-Sevai property-tax portal: [tnurbanepay.tn.gov.in](https://tnurbanepay.tn.gov.in)
12. Central RTI online portal: [rtionline.gov.in](https://rtionline.gov.in)

1. Property tax assessment too high — RTI for the valuation basis — RTI to challenge or verify your property-tax assessment
2. Property tax suddenly tripled? Use RTI to challenge it (2026 guide) — RTI when your property-tax dispute is stuck
3. Property mutation stuck for months? File an RTI and get a written — RTI to force mutation of your property record
4. RTI to the Sub-Registrar for property registration — RTI for sub-registrar delays
5. RTI for Completion Certificate Delay — RTI for a delayed completion certificate
6. RTI for Beginners: Everything You Need to Know Before Filing Your — The beginner's guide to filing an RTI
7. rti-property-records-before-buying — RTI due diligence before buying property

Last reviewed: 4 July 2026.