TIEZA, Bayad Center launch online travel tax payment

Hobart Gonzales, CIS Bayad Center chief financial officer; Francispito Quevedo, CID Bayad Center COO; Pocholo Paragas, TIEZA COO; and TIEZA Assistant COO Joy Bulauitan pose after the signing of partnership agreement on the implementation of the OTTPS. (PNA photo by Joyce Ann Rocamora)

MANILA — Queuing for payment of travel taxes at the airport will be reduced soon as the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) partnered with CIS Bayad Center in launching a new Online Travel Tax Payment System (OTTPS).

The payment scheme would allow passengers the option to pay their travel taxes over the counter or online instead of lining up at the airports and travel tax centers.

“With the OTTPS, even in the comfort of your home you could pay your travel tax or visit any payment gateways or any partners of Bayad Center,” Joy Bulauitan, TIEZA assistant chief operating officer, said in an interview Wednesday.

The official said the TIEZA and the Bayad Center, Inc. are currently working to further improve the online system.

“This is just the first stage, right now we will cater to full payment of travel tax. Later on, we will also cater to other classification of travel tax payment like privilege-reduced travel tax,” she said.

“We will continue to improve our system until our exemptions will be covered by the system,” she said, adding the upgrade is expected within 2019.

Using the OTTPS, the travel taxes, starting April 1, could be paid through Bayad Center Branches and Authorized Partners via https:// traveltax. tieza. gov. ph. Bulauitan said a PHP50 service fee would be charged by the Bayad Center.

On Wednesday, TIEZA also launched its electronic Import Permit System (eIPS), which eases the submission process of investors and locators’ import permits even while their goods are in transit.

“The iEPS is our way of encouraging prospective investors by shortening the processing time for application of import permits and for investors to directly monitor the submission of the requirements in real time,” said Karen Mae Sarinas-Baydo, TIEZA Assistant COO for Tourism Enterprise Zones (TEZ) Management Sector.

Through the iEPS, TIEZA intends to align its automated workflows and procedures, such as having a positive list of import products based on the registered business activity of TIEZA TEZs and Registered Tourism Enterprises.