Taxpayers can file tax returns via PESONet
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Fri, 16 Aug 2019 16:18:28 +0000
TAXPAYERS can now file their tax returns online using PESONet, one of the automated clearing houses under the central bank’s National Retail Payments System (NRPS), the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said on Friday.
In a circular posted on its website, the tax agency announced the availability of PESONet, adding that “[t]axpayers filing their tax returns using the eBERForms and taxpayers mandated to use the Electronic Filing and Payment System can use the aforesaid online payment facility.”
PESONet is a batch electronic fund-transfer payment system that is expected to provide an alternative to the still-widely used paper-based check system. Funds will be made available to recipient accounts within the same banking day or immediately upon clearing.
The facility would enable taxpayers with an account in any of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)-supervised financial institutions (BSFIs) participating in the PESONet payment system to pay their taxes online through the Land Bank of the Philippines’ Link.Biz Portal.
This portal is an electronic payment facility that allows clients to pay for products and services through the internet from both the government and private institutions/sectors.
The new payment facility will be available initially to depositors of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) and later to depositors of other PESONet-participating BSFIs.
Utilizing PESONet, the BIR said, is in line with its “drive to digitize tax payments to improve existing processes for ease of doing business.”
The tax bureau has a collection target of P2.339 trillion this year, 19 percent higher than last year’s below-target collection of P1.961 trillion.
Through PESONet, RCBC depositors can now conveniently settle their obligations without going to the branch, the Yuchengco-led bank said in a separate statement.
“This collaboration further promotes BSP’s thrust in scaling the National Retail Payments System as we continue to ramp up our digital capabilities, such as onboarding of government transactions, in order to provide Filipinos financial solutions that are convenient and inclusive,” RCBC Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer Lito Villanueva was quoted as saying in the statement.
NRPS was established to transform the country’s payments systems and increase retail e-payment transactions from 1 percent of total transactions to 20 percent by 2020.