Taxpayers will no longer have to line up in banks and in city hall to pay their real property or business taxes once the city government implements its online tax payment by July this year.

Alex Cabarrubias, treasurer of the city government, on Tuesday said the city’s online tax verification system is already in place and the integration of the various online payment providers is being done.

“These will be ready once the online tax payment system of the city government will be rolled out,” he said.

He said payers of real property and business taxes can even stay at the comfort of their homes once the online system becomes operational.

Real property and business taxes are the transactions that generate hundreds if not thousands of people flocking at the city hall before the end of the year until the first quarter of the following year.

Cabarrubias also 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 (CTO) 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.

Good collection

Jerry Guevarra, chief operations review unit chief of the city treasury office, meanwhile, said the city government recorded a 32 percent collection of its target revenue generation for the year, lifting hopes that it will be able to get the financial resource to operate within the budget.

“Maganda naman ang collection natin (Our collection is good),” he said.

He, however, 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 was 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.

Record shows that as of March 14, the city government has collected PHP608.6 million from internal and external sources of income.

The city government has approved a 2021 annual budget of PHP1.9 billion. This is 15 percent lower than the PHP2.25 billion operational budget for 2020.

The city was able to collect PHP100.3 million from real property tax; PHP106 million from business taxes; PHP27.2 million from other taxes; PHP113.2 million from other fees and charges; PHP10.6 million from the city’s share in the operation of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA); and PHP251.1 million Internal Revenue Allotment.

The city’s business licensing division reported there were about 800 businesses that retired their operation in 2020 while 485 businesses formally submitted their business retirement for this year, which will have an effect on tax collectible. (PNA)