March 29, 2024

Taxpayers will no longer have to line up in banks and at City Hall to pay their real property or business taxes once the city government implements its online tax payment July this year.
City Treasurer Alex Cabarrubias said the city’s online tax verification system is already in place and the integration of the various online payment providers is being done.
He said those who will pay real property and business taxes can even stay at the comfort of their homes once the online system becomes operational.
Payments of real property and business taxes are the transactions that generate thousands of people flocking at the City Hall before the end of the year until the first quarter of the following year.
Cabarrubias said both taxes require other receipts which are already available and payable at the barangay level.
He said the city government significantly reduced the queues in the one-stop-shop of the City Treasury Office with the designation of treasurers in 28 barangays to collect certain fees.
He said that under the present set up, barangay treasurers are allowed to collect payments for community tax certificate, police clearance, professional tax receipt, working permit, garbage and sewerage fees aside from the fines imposed for violation of the anti-road obstruction order and anti-smoking.
With the innovations and ease on the part of the taxpayers, he said the city government is hopeful that people will be encouraged to pay their taxes and pay on time.
Meanwhile, CTO Chief Operations Review Unit Chief Jerry Guevarra said the city government has already collected 32 percent of its target collection this year, giving hope that it will be able to generate financial resources to operate within the P1.9 billion budget for 2021.
However, he said this year’s collection of business taxes is incomparable with the previous years considering the new scheme implemented for 2021 where payment of business taxes are spread in three months as a social distancing measure.
Business names starting with letters A to H were scheduled to pay in January; letters I to P for February, and letters Q to Z in March.
As of March 14, the city government has collected P608.6 million from internal and external sources; P100.3M from real property taxes; P106M from business taxes; P27.2M from other taxes; P113.2M from other fees and charges; P10.6M share in the operation of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority; and P251.1M Internal Revenue Allotment.
The Permits and Licensing Division reported there were about 800 businesses that retired their operation in 2020 and 485 businesses formally submitted their business retirement for this year, which will have an effect on tax collectibles. – PNA