The Philippines" Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) this month will venture into mobile commerce as it deploys electronic payment systems via cellular phones to facilitate its collection of business registration fees.

By using the G-Cash service of Globe Telecom Inc., business establishments all over the country may now pay their P500 annual business registration fee to the BIR with just a few strokes on their cellphone?s keypad.

?We have decided to partner with Globe Telecom Inc. ? and, consequently, the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) ? for this mobile payment service to ensure taxpayers can easily and conveniently pay their taxes,? BIR deputy commissioner Lilia Guillermo told the press. ?They need not go physically to the bank and queue for long hours,? she added.

Procedure

Under the mobile payment system provided by Globe, business owners can just register with G-Cash and load, at least, 500 pesos onto their electronic wallets. Globe has a number of partners that provide this G-cash loading service. Upon registration, a user is given a mobile PIN (personal identification number), which he will use to authenticate payments made via G-Cash.

Once registered as G-Cash users, business owners may now register their establishments by entering ?PAYBIR,? the amount to be paid, the mobile PIN, the taxpayer branch code, the revenue district office code, and the registered company name, and sending these to 2882.

After the transaction is completed, the subscriber receives a confirmation message and trace number which serves as the BIR reference number. Payment for this transaction is P1. Subscribers need not file a separate payment form (Form 0605) as an accomplished form will be available online two days after the payment is made. The electronic payment will be collected by LBP, which, in turn, will remit the payment to the BIR.

?With this convenience, I believe more businesses will be encouraged to pay the BIR their respective annual registration taxes,? Guillermo said. Apart from the mobile payment platform, Globe is also sending tax advisories and reminders via text messaging to ensure taxpayers that do not miss the BIR?s payment deadlines.

Prior to the offering of this mobile payment service, only 70%-80% of the more than 500,000 registered business establishments paid their annual business registration taxes on time. With this service, Guillermo said the BIR expects to see a 10% increase in their tax registration collection this year.

The BIR has set a Jan. 31 deadline for the payment of the business registration tax. Two weeks after the G-Cash-facilitated payment was rolled out, about 300 transactions were already completed using the service. The BIR expects that, at least, 50% of business establishments will utilize this new mode of payment.

Other Benefits

Apart from improved collections, the BIR, according to Guillermo, is set to benefit from this mobile payment mechanism since it will be sharing with Globe Telecoms at least 30% of the SMS revenues that will be generated in using this service.

The deputy commissioner also disclosed that there was no investment on the part of the BIR to enable the rollout of this service. ?The payment platform is Globe?s, they?re the ones who put out the needed investment for that,? she said.

Landbank, which will serve as the collecting agent of the BIR for this service, likewise did not invest much on this project. LBP vice president for technology management Alan Bornas told select members of the press that their only investment was the man-hours spent by their engineers in developing the payment interface that will enable the bank to seamlessly interoperate with BIR?s own system.

Initially, this mobile payment service will only be available to Globe subscribers, but Guillermo assured the press that they are already holding talks with the country?s other leading mobile operator, Smart Communications Inc.

?We will be testing the waters of mobile commerce with this service. Once we?ve seen that it?s really effective, then we might even use the same payment platform for other tax payments not exceeding P10,000,? Guillermo disclosed.

G-Cash transactions are limited to a maximum of P10,000 per day to ensure that the service will not be used for money laundering activities.