BOSS 2020 surpasses last year’s tax collection

NAGA CITY --- This city’s Business-One-Stop Shop (BOSS), one of the first of its kind implemented by a local government unit in the country that started during the time of then City Mayor Jesse M. Robredo, has posted another record in surpassing previous years’ collection of business taxes and other fees and charges for the first month of the year alone.

In an initial report obtained by Councilor Joe Perez, chairman of the Committee on Investment, Trade, Industry and Economic Enterprise, from the City Treasurer’s Office, the city collected a total of P289,623,084.66 for business taxes and P20,477,054.61 more for other fees and charges for the period Jan. 2-31, 2020.

The amounts are P20.6 million and P2.6 million higher than previous year’s collection of P20,602,262.06 and P17,829,930.15, respectively, Perez said.

In sum, the total revenues generated in the month of January amounted to a total of P310 million. Other businesses, new and those due for renewal, may pay their business taxes, permits and fees in the succeeding months, but with corresponding fines and penalties.

The BOSS is the integrated location for new business permit applications and renewals of business permits. At BOSS, which is located at the People’s Hall at City Hall, an application is processed simultaneously by the Business Permits and Licensing Unit for business registration, by the Zoning Administrator for the locational clearance, and by the Bureau of Fire Protection for fire safety inspection.

BOSS, which follows the Submit-Pay-Claim process of completing the transaction in a few hours, the applicant pays for all fees and charges and then receives the corresponding Business Permit and Business Plate, once the application is approved.

Personnel from various offices of the city government were available to assist the new applicant through the process from Jan. 2-31.

Under the law, all businesses are encouraged to secure and pay their business permits and licenses within the first 20 days of the January, the first month of the fiscal year without fines and penalties.

This year, however, the BOSS was extended to collect payment and expedite application to Jan. 31, 2020 upon the request of Mayor Nelson Legacion “to give local businessmen ample time to renew their permits after being devastated by two consecutive typhoons last December, notably Typhoon Tisoy that put the city under a state of calamity.

Accordingly, members of Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) unanimously approved on Jan. 7 Resolution No. 2020-001 authored by Perez, which officially extended the deadline in the payment of business taxes, fees and charges, renewal of business permits and licenses without fines and penalties until Jan. 31, 2020.

Based on data provided by the City Treasurer’s Office, the total collection of P289 million alone under BOSS this month of January already represented 40 percent of the estimated collection for the year.

The data also showed that so far, based on single applications, 443 new businesses were registered while 7,197 existing businesses were renewed. In terms of line of business count (meaning a single trader may own more than one business establishment or enterprise, 9,840 old businesses were renewed, and 586 were new ones.

The data further showed that business tax collections in the last four years in the month of January of respective year were as follows: P204.7 million in 2016; P200 million in 2017; P237.5 million in 2018; and P269 million in 2019.

Perez said that the rising business tax collection shows Naga’s dynamic business climate. It also highlight’s the business sector’s confidence on the city government while the latter makes sure that the taxes collected will be put into good use, like becoming consistently responsive to the traders’ concerns and targets, while making sure that basic services and opportunities to uplift the lives of the constituents are aptly delivered because the people, after all, represent the businessmen’s customers or end users of the products that they sell.

Perez thanked Mayor Legacion and the people behind the successful implementation of BOSS. He reiterated that BOSS is primarily meant to re-enforce the city’s reputation as a business-friendly city that offers its services for hassle-free, faster, practical, and convenient business transactions.