The eLounge situated at the Negosyo Center in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat. Photo courtesy of Pat Diaz Jr./BIR Revenue Region 18
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 18 March) – The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has opened two offsite electronic services stations or eLounges in Sultan Kudarat province to facilitate the faster filing and processing of payment for income taxes and other related transactions.
The eLounges, the first-ever established outside of BIR offices in the country, were formally unveiled Thursday at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-run Negosyo Centers in Tacurong City and Isulan town, Sultan Kudarat.
Aileen Punzalan, head of BIR Revenue District Office (RDO) 109 based in Tacurong City, said in a phone interview on Friday they established the facilities in partnership with DTI, Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT), and the concerned local government units.
She said each Elounge is equipped with computer workstations that have Internet connections and are installed with systems developed by the agency.
“This is part of our efforts to make our services more accessible to taxpayers and other clients,” she said.
RDO 109, which covers Tacurong City and Sultan Kudarat’s 11 municipalities, serves a total of 118,288 taxpayers, including businesses.
Around 6,000 of them are based in Tacurong and 3,000 in Isulan, the capital town of Sultan Kudarat.
Punzalan said the DICT provided 10 computer workstations for the eLounge in Tacurong City and augmented by two units from the Negosyo Center while two more upcoming units were committed by the local government.
In Isulan, she said the facility has two initial workstations but they are negotiating with the DICT for the installation of additional units.
The official said they decided to put up eLounges outside their offices following consultations with local officials and other stakeholders.
She said Tacurong City Mayor Lino Montilla and Isulan Mayor Marites Pallasigue supported the move in separate meetings recently.
“They supported and approved the setting up of the facilities to help enhance the voluntary compliance of taxpayers with the online filing and payment of taxes in line with the ease of doing business principle,” she said.
She was referring to the implementation of Republic Act 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018, which aims to streamline the systems and procedures of government services.
Punzalan said they found out that many taxpayers are still making their payments manually despite the availability of the online system due to limited access to computers.
Aside from selected bank portals, online tax payments can be made through PayMaya and Gcash.
To further expand the program, she said they are planning to establish eLounges in the 10 other municipalities of Sultan Kudarat in partnership with the Negosyo Centers.
The launching of the eLounges coincided with the kickoff of BIR’s 2022 tax campaign, which is aimed to drum up support and awareness for the annual deadline on the filing and payment of income taxes on April 18. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)
