GTY Technology Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq:GTYH) (“GTY”), a leading provider of SaaS/Cloud solutions for the public sector, announced today that they’ve partnered with the City of San José to make tax penalty forgiveness and accurate tax payments easier for business owners. The City is using new online software that streamlines the payment process and makes it more accessible.
The City of San José’s Finance Department, in partnership with government technology firm and GTY business unit CityBase, recently placed a bundle of related business services and payments in one centralized online hub.
Businesses can now use the portal to apply for the Business Tax Amnesty Program, which forgives past due penalties and interest. The six-month amnesty period, which began October 1, is the first time that the process has been fully digitalized, which has automated the recordkeeping and supported processes that manage exemption requests.
The automated processes drastically reduce staff time for manual work and follow-up on incomplete form submissions. It also minimizes constituent confusion while completing the application because the form generates only the fields relevant to that particular business owner. Information submitted runs through a real-time tax calculator which allows business owners to see what they owe immediately after submitting the form, and pay that amount, all in a single step.
The improved process represents a win-win for both businesses and City taxpayers.
“Taxpayers win because the City has streamlined a costly process and is better able to collect payments at the point of registration,” said Rick Bruneau, Deputy Director of Finance for the City of San José. “Business owners win because they have an easy way to seek forgiveness of overdue penalties in a single online interaction with the City.”
The tax is mandatory for most companies and individuals conducting business in San José, including commercial landlords, landlords renting residential units, retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, service companies, self-employed persons, independent contractors and home-based businesses. Using the portal, eligible businesses can also apply for a tax exemption.
The improved technology is an initiative of the Smart Cities and Service Improvement Committee, which prioritizes a “User Friendly Government” as one of the City’s top goals for civic innovation.
“Making technology sustainable, reusable and scalable for our public-sector clients is the ultimate premise of the CityBase approach,” said CityBase founder and CEO Mike Duffy. “San José leaders have been proactive in finding ways to make government processes easier and seeking ways to ease the burden on local businesses, and we are excited to team up to assist them.”
Chicago-based CityBase was founded in 2013 to create technology and guide strategy that improves people’s interactions with their local government. More than 100 agencies, utilities, cities and counties use the CityBase platform to provide payments and digital services to their constituents.
About the City of San José
With more than one million residents, San José is one of the most diverse large cities in the United States and is Northern California’s largest city and the 10th largest city in the nation. San José’s transformation into a global innovation center has resulted in one of the largest concentrations of technology companies and expertise in the world. In 2011, the City adopted Envision San José 2040, a long-term growth plan that sets forth a vision and a comprehensive road map to guide the City’s anticipated growth through the year 2040.
About CityBase
CityBase is a government technology company that transforms the way cities connect and do business with constituents. CityBase works with local governments, agencies and utilities to integrate payment functionality, business processes, and communications onto a central, cloud-based platform that consumers can access through the web, mobile, kiosk, IVR, or point of sale. Learn more at thecitybase.com.
About GTY Technology Holdings Inc.
GTY Technology Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: GTYH) (“GTY”) brings leading government technology companies together to achieve a new standard in citizen engagement and resource management. Through its six business units, GTY offers an intuitive cloud-based suite of solutions for state and local governments spanning functions in procurement, payments, grant management, budgeting, and permitting: Bonfire provides strategic sourcing and procurement software to enable confident and compliant spending decisions; CityBase provides government payment solutions to connect constituents with utilities and government agencies; eCivis offers a grant management system to maximize grant revenues and track performance; Open Counter provides government payment software to guide applicants through complex permitting and licensing procedures; Questica offers budget preparation and management software to deliver on financial and non-financial strategic objectives; Sherpa provides public sector budgeting software and consulting services.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The company’s actual results may differ from its expectations, estimates and projections and, consequently, you should not rely on these forward looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as “expect,” “estimate,” “project,” “budget,” “forecast,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “may,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “believes,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the company’s expectations with respect to future performance and anticipated impacts of the business combination. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results. Most of these factors are outside of the company’s control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (1) the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of GTY’s recent business combination transaction, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, the ability of the company to grow and manage growth profitably and retain its key employees; (2) costs related to the business combination; (3) the outcome of the New York and California lawsuits among the company, OpenGov, Inc. and the other parties thereto; (4) the inability to maintain the listing of the company’s common stock on The Nasdaq Stock Market; (5) changes in applicable laws or regulations; (6) the possibility that the company may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; (7) any government shutdown which impacts the ability of the company’s customers to purchase its products and services; and (8) other risks and uncertainties included in the company’s registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-229926), including those under “Risk Factors” therein, and in the company’s other filings with the SEC. We caution you that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive, and readers should not place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. We do not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in our expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.
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