Published on: June 27, 2023
By Marcelo Pedalino
MAASIN CITY (PIA) -- The tax collection in the province of Southern Leyte was not affected in terms of payments made when the GCash app was disabled last month due to “a high failure count for BIR payments.”
“There were no complaints from affected taxpayers,” Noemi Pizon, revenue officer of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) District Office 090, pointed out, adding that the issue has no impact in the province.
The tax paying public under the coverage of RDO 090 has been paying online but not using GCash, Pizon said in an interview at her office Monday, June 26.
On June 2, Romeo Lumagui Jr. BIR commissioner, issued an advisory to all concerned taxpayers, revenue officials and employees across the country, stating that “a high failure count for BIR payments via the GCash mobile application was detected last May 24, 2023.”
It was then decided “to temporarily disable BIR payments acceptance via GCash app to avoid further inconvenience to both taxpayers and partner banks, while an ongoing investigation is being conducted, to identify the root cause of the problem.”
“In this regard, taxpayers are advised to pay their taxes thru other electronic payment (ePAY) facilities,” the advisory further said, listing the specific online portals of Land Bank, DBP, and Union Bank, and this has been posted in the social media pages of the tax agency both at their local and national offices.
The GCash app was founded in the year 2004, but it was in 2012 that it shifted from physical to digital cashless system.
The global pandemic contributed to GCash’s exponential rise in the country, for according to Wikipedia, as of May 2023, the app “claims to have 81 million active users and 2.5 million sellers and merchants across the Philippines.” (MMP/PIA8-Southern Leyte)
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