Starting a business and paying taxes in the Philippines now take fewer steps and involve a shorter number of days as government agencies continue to streamline business processes, according to the National Competitiveness Council (NCC).
Government agencies have simplified the procedure for business registration and start-up, cutting down the application steps to six from 16 previously so as to complete the whole process within eight days versus 29 days last year, NCC said in a press statement.
Among the measures taken to facilitate ease of doing business is the rollout last April 2015 by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of its Integrated Business Registration System (IBRS) catering to corporations and partnerships.
The one-stop shop enables companies to get their SEC registration number, taxpayer identification number, and registration numbers from the Social Security System (SSS), Pag-IBIG Fund, and PhilHealth in a single transaction within the day.
“This has significantly reduced the number of steps and days to start a business,” NCC noted.
Originally available at the SEC Head Office, the IBRS service has been expanded to selected malls. It has also been introduced in SEC Tarlac and will soon be offered at SEC Cebu, SEC Davao, and SEC Cagayan de Oro.
A total of 23,128 companies have been incorporated at the SEC under this system from April 15, 2015 to March 15, 2016, with over 99% receiving their registration papers in one day, NCC noted.
On tax- and payroll-related payments, Pag-IBIG Fund and PhilHealth have made it easier for companies employing 10 or more workers to pay monthly contributions through online payment systems at the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP). NCC said it now takes just 13 payments versus the previous 36 payments at these banks.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has launched electronic tax filing and e-payment services through G-Cash, a system that allows taxpayers to use mobile phones to remit payments instead of queuing up at the revenue agency’s offices and at banks.
For its part, SSS deployed its own online payment scheme several years ago, with companies having more than 10 employees able to remit contributions through partner banks via auto debit or through accredited payment centers such as Bayad Centers and payment points at the SM chain of malls.
At the local level, the Quezon City government has streamlined its procedures through an online portal on which applications for businesses can be accomplished. Through this system, the number of days to process business applications has been slashed from six days to two days by reducing the required steps.
Moreover, taxpayers can remit their payment for real estate and business taxes through online banking with Land Bank. Quezon City is home to over 65,000 business establishments, NCC noted.
All these reforms are the result of NCC’s Gameplans 3.0 and 4.0, which are strategies that aim to simplify government transactions related to ease of doing business as measured by World Bank-International Finance Corporation through its annual Doing Business Survey.
In the past five years, the Philippines has made steady gains in the survey report, moving up 45 places to 103rd spot in 2015 from 148th in 2010.
The Ease of Doing Business Task Force is composed of representatives from NCC and the departments of finance, trade and industry, and interior and local government, as well as the BIR, SEC, SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG Fund, Land Bank, DBP, and the Quezon City government.
Image courtesy of Becris at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
