THE Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) electronic payment (e-payment) collections last year nearly doubled to P1.2 billion, from P626.35 million recorded in 2018.
The BIR reported to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III that the number of electronic tax payments in 2019 also reached 446,753 transactions, 60 percent higher than the 278,602 transactions recorded a year ago.
BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa said in his report to the Department of Finance (DOF) that the e-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.
For 2020, the BIR is targeting to further simplify its paper application form and reduce processing times, as well as 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, according to Guballa.
The BIR said the increase in the online processing of tax payments was prompted by the launching of the bureau’s PESONet, an electronic funds transfer which enabled the taxpayers to conveniently pay their taxes anytime and anywhere.
Launched on August 15, 2019, PESONet aims to shift over 15 million over-the-counter tax payment transactions collected annually to this online payments service, in sync with President Duterte’s directive to cut red tape and improve the ease of doing business.
Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko, head of the Revenue Operations Group of DOF, said the shifting of over 15 million over-the-counter tax payment transactions to PESONet represents more than 80 percent of the total number of tax-payment transactions processed by the BIR each year.
Tionko said BIR wants to further make tax payments convenient, efficient and less costly for taxpayers, while saving around P230 million yearly in transaction fees for the agency.
The savings of P230 million will come from the lowering of transaction fees charged by Authorized Agent Banks (AABs) from P40 to only P25 under the PESONet-enabled facility.
PESONet, which can transact fund transfers electronically in large batches, has 40 participating banks under its wing.
The PESONet interoperable digital bills payment service is the latest payment infrastructure introduced by the payments industry under the National Retail Payment System (NRPS) policy framework of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
PESONet was launched by the BIR in partnership with the BSP, Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) and the payments industry.