DOF to roll out PHPay system for government transactions
EFFICIENCY IS KEY TO ANY MODERN SOCIETY, and Filipinos should expect faster transactions with government agencies soon. The Department of Finance (DOF) has announced that an online payment gateway is in the works, which will enable taxpayers and other state clients to pay for fees and charges electronically to state agencies.
The payment gateway, dubbed as the PHPay system, aims to cut red tape and create a more efficient way of doing business in the country. It is designed with secure and reliable features that will allow state clients to make payments online for government services. Since these transactions can be done anytime and anywhere, the need for human contact and long queues in government offices will be minimized or eliminated.
“Taxpayers and other government clients, can however, still opt to use other payment methods even when PHPay is in place,” DOF Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran said in a statement.
Moreover, aside from this DOF effort, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has introduced new measures minimizing the procedures and processing time for paying taxes, starting a business, and registering properties.
In his report to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III during the DOF executive committee (Execom) meeting, Beltran said that the BIR has cut down the steps for registering a business from 6 days to 1 day and trimmed down the number of procedures for paying taxes from 20 to 7 steps.
Beltran also added that trading across borders will be easier, as the simple export and import processes of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) will be done online through Tradenet.gov.ph.
The TradeNet platform is fully owned by the Philippine government, and it is designed to automate the licensing, clearance, permit, and certification systems for regulatory agencies. It will also function as the Philippine link to the Asean Single Window (ASW) gateway, so it is expected to cut the processing time of issuing import and export permits as well as minimize costs of doing business.
via Entrepreneur / Lorenzo Kyle Subido
