BIR in Southern Leyte Has Been Into Online Tax Filing

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MAASIN CITY   --  Since 2008, some taxpayers here need not leave their offices or homes in order to pay taxes.


All they have to do was sit down in front of the computer, access the proper website, type the needed information at the keypad, make some clicks at the mouse, then lo and behold:  the patriotic duty of paying one’s taxes was over in a matter of minutes --  seconds, even  --  courtesy of the latest technology employed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).


The programmed technology is called Electronic Filing Payment System (eFPS), and it is being used already by the BIR’s Revenue District Office Number 90 here for two years in a row, said Noeme Pizon, the Revenue District Officer (RDO).


In an interview at his office yesterday, RDO Pizon said that as of now more than ten taxpayers have availed the eFPS way of doing business with the local BIR office.


The high-tech method was optional for most taxpayers, but it is mandatory for those belonging to the top 20,000 corporations in the Philippines, Pizon said.


And here in Maasin City, at least two large business entities, one a homegrown, successful business with branches in other cities, and the other a franchisee of a popular fast food chain, had qualified and were included in the list of the country’s top 20,000 corporations, she added.


To avail this facility, a taxpayer has to enroll at the local BIR office to ascertain that criteria were met.  To access the eFPS, a taxpayer would open the BIR website, www.bir.gov.ph, log on to the eFPS webpage,  click at the proper form to be filled-up, submit it, and wait for the filing reference number as proof of e-filing.


Then the taxpayer will open the website of the Accredited Agent Bank (AAB) with eFPS facility where he/she was enrolled, debit the corresponding amount as payment, then submit, wait for the bank’s acknowledgment receipt and that’s it  --  taxes were then successfully e-filed and payment were done electronically.


In a related development, Pizon announced that their office is now equipped with an e-registry facility which was installed just last week.


Anyone visiting the BIR office for whatever information and guidance they like concerning BIR matters may log on to this e-registry  --  and the client may also encode in this special unit his/her complaints or any feedback regarding the services extended through the Satisfaction Survey Forms provided.


This has been part of the tax bureau’s “Handang Maglingkod” program, RDO Pizon added.  (PIA-Southern Leyte)