THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is now using its new online system to beat the tax payment problems caused by the local spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Amid the ongoing payment season for Annual Income Tax Returns (AITR), BIR Head Executive Assistant Rosario M. Padilla said taxpayers could now access their Offline eBIRForms Package (EFP) in their web site to compute their tax dues.
EFPs-filers could then pay their taxes online through their partner firms, namely, PayMaya, GCash, LBP LinkBiz ATM and debit cards, the DBP Tax Online Credit/ATM/debit cards.
Good alternative
She said the online option is a good alternative to manual payment, especially as the government encourages “social distancing” with the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the country, which reached 49 as of March 11.
“All of these will allow our taxpayers to pay their dues without lining up in banks or to linger with collection agents. We could now pay whenever it will be convenient for you,” Padilla said at a press briefing in Malacañang on Wednesday.
Padilla said they expect the number of online payments of taxes to significantly increase this year after they made the option available to all taxpayers and due to the growing public concern in Covid-19.
“We now expect we will be having lesser over-the-counter filing and payment,” Padilla said.
Less risk for early filers
As for those who will still opt for traditional manual payment of the taxes, Padilla appealed to them to pay their AITR before its deadline on April 15.
“We remind everybody to pay on time, file on time to avoid the inconvenience of congested lines and, of course, to avoid payment of surcharge of 25 percent for late filing and then an interest at 12 percent,” Padilla said.
BIR will start establishing its Tax Filing Assistance Centers at all of its Revenue District Offices (RDO) on March 28. Currently, BIR has no plans to extend the deadline, but it said it is open to do so if the need for it arises in response to the effects of Covid-19.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes