Czechs owe the state billions of crowns and often don't even know it. That's why the Institute for the Prevention and Resolution of Over-indebtedness came to the community Česko.Digital. Together they created the informative and educational website Nedluzimstatu.cz, which makes it easy to find out if you owe for unpaid garbage, parking fines, public transport or insurance.
More than 150,000 people have already visitedthe site, of which more than 25,000 have filled out a questionnaire to find out where they owe money. One thousand of us have requested confirmation of debt-free status on the platform.
Debts clearly, in one place#
The basic idea of the project is that it should be easy for a citizen to find out if he or she owes the state. The project went through four phases and involved a total of over 40 expert volunteers specialising in user interface, user experience, data analysis, design, development, marketing and research.
Volunteers worked on the design of the website, carried out user testing and put into operation several useful features, such as a questionnaire that lists the institutions where you may owe money, automatic generation of forms (so we don't have to re-write everything again) or tools to help you deal with any debt you may have identified (e.g. requesting a payment plan or requesting forgiveness of penalties). The website acts as a universal tool that helps to deal with any debts within the government clearly and in one place.
The initiator of the project , Radek Hábl, describes in a video on YouTube Česko.Digital that he sees the benefit of the community mainly in the committed team, which was very well able to define the basic version of the web tool, which was a problem until then. The expert team was able to look at the tool as a product, which gave the project a clear direction and goal.
And how have the volunteers involved developed through the project Česko.Digital?
Writing texts on such a topic across all platforms and marketing activities was a very interesting experience. Not only did I get references, but I also gained a lot of experience that brought me other clients and offers for my freelance work. I learned how to handle constructive criticism and feedback on my texts and work better with my team. - volunteer Terézia Palaszcakova
Impact#
In its first year of operation (2021), the website was visited by 74,764 visitors. Over 30,000 people have expressed interest in finding out where they can pay their debts. The Gracious summer subpage was visited by over 38,000 people in three months. A questionnaire to find out if and where they owe money was completed by 23,414 people. A total of 1,152 people viewed a new interactive form on the site, launched in autumn 2021, and had a PDF email generated to request a debt-free certificate for multiple institutions at once.
The greatest interest in finding out about the debt was at the Czech Social Security Agency - 11 492, followed by over 9 500 people finding out about the possible debt at the Customs Administration or the Police of the Czech Republic and at the Financial Office. 8 637 people found out whether they owed money to their municipality, 4 672 people to the insurance company VZP. Over 1 100 people also used the possibility of applying for a payment plan, the most - 192 applications to the Czech Social Security Agency and 175 applications to the Financial Office.
Media mentions#
- I don't owe the state? New app lets you check all your liabilities in one place and avoid foreclosures (Hospodářské noviny)
- Single mothers and young families deserve the most help from the state, say Czechs (Novinky.cz)
- Don't I owe the state? A new service from Česko.Digital is once again replacing the lack of state communication (CzechCrunch)
- I don't owe the state? Citizens can find out their obligations thanks to a new web application (Nejbusiness.cz)
- I don't owe the state? A new web app will tell you (Světchytře.cz)
- I don't owe the state? Check with a new service (Penize.cz)
- How to check if you owe the state (Epenize.eu)
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