Treasurer’s office opens December 31 for taxpayers

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu City Treasurer’s Office is calling all owners of real properties in the city to pay their taxes for this year on December 31 to avoid surcharges and interests.

Acting City Treasurer Arlene Rentuza said her office will be open tomorrow to accommodate the taxpayers who want to settle their dues for real property tax (RPT) this year.

“We’re open because the succeeding days are holidays na. We want to avoid nga ang collection would be officially received or credited to the bank on January 3. Atong system, ang official receipt nga issue is December 31 unya kon January 3, mo-generate na og penalties and surcharges,” she told reporters.

For this year, the city’s executive department targeted a P1-billion collection from RPT.

As of November this year, Rentuza said her office has collected at least P998.7 million from taxes on real properties.

Rentuza expressed optimism that her office will reach the target collection from RPTs this year.

She reminded those who will pay their RPT tomorrow to pay either in cash or through a manager’s check.

“It’s important that on the 31st, they have to pay cash or manager’s check. Dili nami modawat og personal or corporation check kay i-agi pa na og clearing. By the time nga we deposit sa bangko, ang clearing ana is January 3 so mahulog gihapon nga bayad sila sa surcharge,” she added.

Aside from accepting payments for RPT this year, Rentuza said the city government also grants 10 percent discount to those RPT payers that will pay in advance for 2019.

She said the office will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday.

Yesterday, the CCTO also catered to payments from taxpayers even if it was a weekend.

“We really want to accommodate the taxpayers nga makabayad sila especially those who are availing of the amnesty nga mo end ta og December 31 and those who are paying in advance for 2019 as to who would want to avail of the discount of 10 percent,” she said.

Rentuza admitted that the initiative is to intensify the collection of taxes, adding that the CCTO has also intensified collection of tax delinquencies this year.

She said there were notices of delinquencies delivered this year. She is hoping that they will settle their dues before the year ends.

For this, she said over 15 employees will be working overtime to accommodate the payments of taxpayers for December 29 and December 31. — GAN (FREEMAN)