To protect residents and business owners, the local government of Quezon City has reiterated its call to all taxpayers not to deal with fixers in paying their taxes.
“Every year we renew our call to taxpayers not to deal with fixers for their tax payments,” Quezon City Business Permits and Licensing Office (BPLO) head Garry Domingo said, adding that the procedure is simple enough for them to make their transaction in person.
Besides additional cost to them for asking fixers for their permits or payments, there is always the danger that taxpayers will not get legitimate proof of their transaction, the local official also said.
According to Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, the city is the first local government unit (LGU) in the country to implement an easier and business-friendly process for business-renewal application.
Domingo said the new process is a concierge type. “Meaning the taxpayer will just sit in the first window. The city’s three concierge will help in the preliminary processing of the papers up to releasing, and once the taxpayers’ name are called, they will be given the bill ready for payment at the cashier, located near the sitting area.”
The procedure will start this year, Domingo also said. He added that business owners will only submit four documents with an additional requirement depending on their type of business.
Domingo also said that before the introduction of the new system, “the requirements for renewing permits were 11, that is now down to four.”
In 2016 the National Competitiveness Council has rated Quezon City second overall in government efficiency in the Most Competitive City Awards, while the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry cited the city government as the most business-friendly LGU.
Quezon City is the sole representative of the Philippines in the “Ease of Doing Business” program of the World Bank.
An innovation of this year’s business-renewal process is the addition of a color-coding scheme per category to the queuing line of the renewal of business tax payment, accompanied by added manpower to guide establishment owners to their appropriate lanes.
Color red for rebilling and 1 million and above, blue for one to two transactions, yellow for multiple transactions, green for senior citizens, pregnant women, and persons with disabilities, and pink for bank, cooperative, nonstock/nonprofit, amendment/nongovernmental organization.
There are 74,000 business establishments registered in Quezon City BPLO.
The city government also reminded business owners to pay their taxes on or before January 20 to avoid penalties and interest charges for late payment.
