MANILA - The Bureau of Internal Revenue is aiming to increase digital payment transactions to 50 percent in 2022 by accelerating modernization efforts.
"BIR targets to increase ePayment transactions by 50 percent in 2022 as modernization efforts aim to improve voluntary compliance," it said in a statement.
Expanding epayment channels will allow the agency to save P150 million to about P200 milion in transaction fees, it said.
The BIR has launched epayment channels since 2015 including LandBank’s Link.Biz.Portal, DBP Paytax Online as well as GCash and PayMaya.
The tax bureau's Transformation (DX) Program 2022 is called the Fast, Innovative, Reliable, Secure and Technology-driven (FIST).
During the Phase 1 implementation of the program more epayment channels will be accessible to taxpayers 24/7, BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay said during the official launching event.
In his keynote speech, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez highlighted how the country's digitalization helped the country respond faster to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Through the difficult months, our two main revenue agencies continued to function effectively, bringing the revenue flows to our government direly needed,” Dominguez said, citing BIR and the Bureau of Customs.
In 2020, 90 percent of the total annual income tax returns were filed electronically, the official said,
Compared to 2015, epayments grew by 110 percent of about 4 million transactions in 2020, Dominguez said.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno said the central bank's own digital transformation roadmap supports BIR's digital program.
The BSP aims to digitalize at least 50 percent of retail payment by 2023.
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For more information about BIR’s ePayment services, visit the BIR website at www.bir.gov.ph.
ANC, ANC Top, digital payment, tax payments, digitalization roadmap, epayment, tax collection, BIR