BIR, PayMaya deal: ‘Now easier than ever to pay taxes’

Ahead of the annual tax-payment deadline in April, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Friday (Feb. 14) launched another way to settle taxes without falling in line, this time through the PayMaya app.

“We are happy to offer PayMaya as a new payment channel where individual Filipino taxpayers can easily remit their taxes, no matter where they are in the country,” BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay said in a statement quoted by PayMaya.

At Friday’s launch, Deputy Commissioner Lanee Cui-David said with the addition of PayMaya to the BIR’s digital tax payment channels, “we are expecting a significant shift in favor of electronic payments and, of course, a significant increase in our revenues.”

PayMaya, in a separate statement, said its partnership with the BIR would allow the agency to accept payments from app users “using only their mobile numbers.”

PayMaya would also allow tax payments using debit, credit or prepaid cards.

“We are proud to be enabling the BIR with new options for card and wallet payments,” said PayMaya. “As more Filipinos go digital, the BIR is opening up secure, convenient and reliable options to the taxpaying public,” it said.

“Now, it’s easier than ever to pay your taxes,” said PayMaya chief executive and founder Orlando Vea.

PayMaya said taxpayers would enjoy a “cashback” if they settle their dues using the app this month.

If PayMaya users used the app to pay taxes on Feb. 15, 16, 22, 23 and 29, they would be given a one-time P100 cashback if their payments were among the first three made during the promo period.

But they have to pay at least P1,000 in taxes through the app to qualify for the cashback, PayMaya said.

The Department of Finance (DOF) earlier said the amount of taxes collected by the BIR from payments made online and through apps climbed 92 percent to P1.2 billion in 2019.

The bigger take was due to a 60 percent jump in e-payment transactions to 446,753 in 2019.

Edited by TSB