Cebu City: Business permit renewal revenue soars

A photo of sky-rise buildings in Cebu City. | FILE PHOTO by Niña Mae Oliverio

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The recent collection of Business Permits and Licensing Office (BPLO) for business permit renewal had shown a positive trend to the city’s economy, said Cebu City mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia.

The total revenue for the business permit renewal as of February 10 was P1,769,803,131.57, Garcia shared.

READ: Gov’t sets higher BIR, BOC revenue collection target for 2025

Last January, the total collection was P1,756,739,945.12, compared to last year’s P1,550,180,462.15, according to the document showed by Garcia.

The amount was roughly 12 percent higher than last year of the same period which was around P1.5 billion, he added.

Garcia said that the figures had increased the city’s tax efficiency in terms of collection and noted that this year, there would be more or less 1,000 new establishments in the city.

“It just shows nga nibalik na gyud atong ekonomiya and people are more confident now in opening businesses,” Garcia said.

In a separate interview, Garcia also credited the higher collection this year to the executive order he previously issued in accordance with payment of taxes.

Last November 18, he issued EO No. 22 to adapt the Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act (RPVARA) or the Republic Act No. 12001 in Cebu City.

Under this law, delinquent taxpayers were given two years to settle their obligations and penalties.

RA No. 12001 was enacted last July 5, 2024.

It aimed to bring reforms to the real property valuation and assessment system and offers relief to taxpayers through a two-year amnesty on interest and penalties for those with unpaid real property taxes.

The EO was made to reiterate the implementation of the newly enacted law, which grants amnesty on penalties, surcharges, and interests imposed on unpaid Special Education Fund, Idle Land Tax, and other Special Levy Taxes.

This also means that those who have real property in Cebu City like land, building, machinery, facing penalties, have “two years to pay the principal and no need to pay the penalties.”