(January 9, 2013) ONE week after the start of the annual renewal of business permits in Cebu City, hundreds of applicants flocked the one-stop-shop set up by the City Treasurer’s Office at the Trade Hall of SM City Cebu.

Some taxpayers said they were satisfied with the flow of the renewal and the service but a few said it was still the same as previous years with long queues.

Jaime Aray said the setup for this year’s renewal is better. “It’s organized and a lot more spacious. I can easily figure out where to go next,” he said, comparing his previous experience at the Cebu City Hall where he had to go up and down the stairs.

Aray, who wanted to finish the task within the day, said he arrived at 10 a.m. to avoid the crowd. He also made sure to prepare beforehand the requirements so he won’t keep coming back.

Aray said he was pleased with the service of CTO officials as they are approachable and accommodating.

An admin assistant of a shipping company, who asked not to be named, shared the same sentiments. She said she came early to process her employer’s business permits to avoid inconveniences. She was also pleased with the set-up and the service of the CTO officials, especially when asking for information with their respective transactions.

Roger Qiamzon, a bookkeeper, said he was satisfied with flow of the permit renewal but he noted ways to improve the transactions.

While waiting for his turn at the queue, he told Sun.Star Cebu he wanted to beat the three-hour completion time he experienced last year when the one-stop-shop was at the Elizabeth Mall. He said he wanted to finish early so he could show to his employer the CTO’s assessment and pay the tax dues right away.

The annual renewal of business permits began last Jan. 2. Businesses are given until Jan. 21 to complete the renewal. Late transactions are penalized with 25 percent surcharge of their tax dues and two percent interest per month.

Operating hours

The CTO expects to collect P800 million in business taxes by Jan. 21. Some 28,000 to 30,000 establishments are expected to renew their business licenses. The renewal center at SM is open from 10 am to 8 pm from Monday to Saturday, excluding on the 19th. The center is open until Jan. 25.

In the first two days of the renewal, the CTO experienced technical glitches, resulting in lower transactions of just 260 applications on the first day and 702 on the second day as opposed from last year’s transaction of 734 applications on the first day and 1,467 on the second day.

Emma Villarete, officer-in-charge of the CTO, said they were supposed to use a Windows-based system to process the renewal but suffered technical glitches so they decided to go back to their older Cobol-based system. She said the system also suffered from poor Internet connectivity.

Had the new system worked, Villarete said taxpayers would have been able to view their payables online. She said her office will slowly migrate the data in the old system to the new one so that by the second or third quarter of this year, the new system will be fully used.

Employees assigned to the renewal center are preparing for the surge of applicants nearing deadline.

Villarete said that starting next week, employees assigned as evaluators will now serve as cashiers to ensure faster transactions. The CTO will deploy 18 to 20 employees as cashiers.

In Mandaue City, the Mandaue Treasurer’s Office is targeting 10,000 business establishments to renew permits this year.

According to public information officer Roger Paller, they set up renewal booths at the JCentre Mall and Insular Mall last Monday, aside from the one located at the City Hall, to speed up processing.

He also said that the Mandaue Treasurer’s Office has raised the penalty on the failure to complete the five permits needed for the business permit renewal from P500 to P5,000.

Paller said that as of early December, Mandaue’s tax collection stood at P1.2 billion.