Deadline for filing of RPT, business tax in Cebu City moved to Dec. 21

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The deadline for payment of real property taxes (RPTs) and business taxes for fiscal year 2020 has been moved to December 21, 2020.

The Cebu City Council approved on Wednesday, October 28, 2020, the extension for the filing of RPT and business taxes, taking into consideration the long period of quarantine during the peak of the pandemic from March to August 2020.

Councilor Raymond Garcia, the city council’s chairperson for the committee on budget and finance, told CDN Digital on Thursday, October 29, 2020, that establishments and entities who will file their taxes before or on December 21, 2020, will not be penalized.

This is a form of help from the city government after the many businesses has struggled through closures and halted operations.

“We know the struggles of our business sector. The local finance committee decided that we should give our businesses an extended deadline because many of them, as expected, really cannot pay for the taxes because of the pandemic,” said Garcia.

The City Treasurer’s Office already expected that they would not hit their target collection this year due to the pandemic, and the finance committee is hoping to collect more through the extension of the deadline.

This is the second time the city government extended the deadline for the RPT and business taxes, all because of the long quarantine and the economic recession.

Originally, the deadline was at February before it was first extended to September 30, 2020, as part of the implementation of the tax amnesty ordinance, which provided relief for delinquent payers in previous years.

“We want to avoid more delinquencies this year so we extend the deadline to December 21,” said Councilor Garcia.

The councilor hopes that with the extension, more establishments in the city will pay their taxes this year.

/bmjo