Tax payments collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) through its electronic channels jumped 92 percent in 2019 as more taxpayers opted to conveniently pay their taxes online.
The Department of Finance (DOF) said in a statement yesterday electronic tax payments amounted to P1.2 billion in 2019, a significant increase from the previous year’s P626.35 million.
The BIR’s report to DOF Secretary Carlos Dominguez also showed the number of electronic tax payment transactions last year reached 446,753, an increase of 60 percent from 278,602 in 2018.
Arnel Guballa, BIR deputy commissioner, said in his report the electronic payments were done through the Union Bank Online Tax Payment Facility using automated teller machines or debit cards, the PayMaya smartphone app, and the PESONet fund transfer service.
Guballa said for 2020, among the BIR’s targets are to further simplify its paper application forms and reduce processing times, the number of documentary requirements and signatories for taxpayers to enhance the bureau’s delivery of frontline services and help improve the ease of doing business.
The DOF said tax payments processed online increased remarkably in 2019 when the BIR, launched PESONet, an electronic funds transfer service which enabled the taxpayers to pay their taxes anytime and anywhere.
PESONet aims to shift over 15 million over-the-counter tax payment transactions collected annually to this online payments service, in line with the goal to cut red tape and improve the ease of doing business for the benefit of taxpayers and the businesses.
Antonette Tionko, DOF undersecretary, said the 15 million over-the-counter tax payment transactions have shifted to PESONet, representing more than 80 percent of the total number of tax-payment transactions processed by the BIR each year.
The BIR’s goal is to further make tax payments convenient, efficient and less costly for taxpayers and at the same time, saving around P230 million yearly in transaction fees for the agency, Tionko said.
The savings of P230 million will come from the lowering of transaction fees charged by authorized agent banks from P40 to only P25 under the PESONet-enabled facility.
PESONet, which can transact fund transfers electronically in large batches, has over 40 participating banks under its wing.
