AROUND P1 billion worth of business tax has been collected by the Cebu City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) as of Thursday, Jan. 24, a day before the one-stop shop for the renewal of business permits closes.
With this, Mayor Tomas Osmeña and the CTO reminded business owners who have yet to pay their tax due to settle their obligations today, Jan. 25.
“Reminder lang: tomorrow is the last day to get your business permit without incurring penalty. We are trying to make getting all your requirements as easy as possible so please do not give us any excuses to close your business for failing to pay your taxes,” Osmeña wrote on his Facebook page.
This year, the CTO targets to collect P1.9 billion in business taxes alone.
City Treasurer Arlene Rentuza said business owners who fail to pay their taxes today will incur a surcharge equivalent to 25 percent of the total assessment and interest of two percent per month.
“Our last day of payment will be on Friday, Jan. 25. They need to have their businesses assessed and give their payment so we will not charge them any penalty and interest,” she said.
Rentuza said they will not extend the deadline because they already gave the taxpayers enough time to pay.
“We will no longer extend because as provided under the Local Government Code, last day of the payment of business tax without penalty and interest is only up to every 20th of January. We just extended the date this year and we asked permission from the City Council,” the city treasurer said.
As of Thursday, Jan. 24, hundreds of taxpayers had gone to the one-stop shop on the ground floor of Robinsons Galleria Cebu to finish their business permit application.
“We expect that more people will come to our one-stop shop on the last day even if we already reminded them to pay their taxes earlier, but we will still accommodate them,” Rentuza said.
So far, some 31,000 business establishments have been assessed with an estimated total tax due amounting to P2 billion.
Of the number, only 24,000 have paid their tax dues.
Rentuza said they will follow up the remaining 7,000 business establishments and ask them to pay their tax.
“If everyone will pay, the P2 billion assessed value is higher than our target collection this year, which is P1.9 billion,” she said. (RVC)