PAYMAYA Philippines, Inc. is partnering with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to allow its users to remit tax payments through the PayMaya app.
In a statement, PayMaya said its account holders will soon be able to make tax payments to the BIR via the PayBills feature on the app.
“Having more digital payment options is part of the government’s efforts to drive ease of doing business in the country and help make tax payments more convenient for Filipinos. With our partnership with PayMaya, even those who are not within reach of a bank branch can make their tax payments on time, wherever they may be,” BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay was quoted as saying in a statement.
PayMaya also said it is working with the tax collection agency to extend digital tax payments through the BIR website and revenue district offices.
“With agencies like the BIR opening digital payment channels for their constituents, the quality and efficiency of government services are vastly improved, which will help drive our competitiveness as a country. We at PayMaya are proud to be partners with the government in not just improving service delivery, but also ensuring the transparency of services with the help of digital technology,” PayMaya Founder and CEO Orlando B. Vea said.
PayMaya and the BIR’s partnership is supported by the United States Agency for International Development’s E-PESO project, which aims to boost e-payment usage in the interest of financial inclusion.
The government also has been ramping up efforts to digitize its services to boost efficiency, reach revenue collection targets, and deliver better public services.
Enabling tax payments via digital payment channels also supports the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ goal to increase digital transactions to 20% by 2020 under the National Retail Payment System.
PayMaya is a unit of PLDT, Inc.’s digital arm Voyager Innovations, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.
