The Mandaue City Treasurer’s Office on Tuesday reminded business owners to pay taxes on or before the 20 January 2024 deadline to avoid penalties.

Mandaue City Treasurer Atty. Regal Oliva disclosed that their office will not grant any extensions after the deadline, unlike in the previous years during the height of Covid-19 pandemic and in 2021 when the city was affected by typhoon “Odette.”

She added that the situation has already returned to normal and it is high time to implement strictly the rules in collecting taxes.

Based on the data from the City’s Business Permit and Licensing Office, Mandaue has 16,000 business establishments and at least 93 of these establishments are large scale players and corporations which generate monthly net income from P100 million up to P500 million.

“It is very important that you pay your taxes on time because even if it just one day that the check is late, that is no excuse. Once the check is late, it is already negligence on the part of the establishment of the taxpayer, and it will be charged against you,” Oliva said.

“So, for example, a business owner has a P1 million payable business tax and he failed to pay on time, it would mean he has to pay an additional P250,000 as surcharge and P20,000 for the two percent interest,” she added.

Business tax refers to taxes businesses should pay as part of their business operations. It maybe sole proprietorship, partnership, part of a limited liability company, or a corporation, it is responsible for adhering to the tax regulations of the state.

Local governments like provinces, cities and municipalities impose local business taxes and fees on corporations or individuals.

Oliva encouraged real property taxpayers to settle their payments early to avail of the 10 percent discount provided by the city.

Meantime, Real Property Tax payment deadline is on 31 March 2024 and payments are made directly to the CTO.

Mandaue City had 135,000 real property units, 90 percent or 121,500 properties are taxable and 10 percent, or 13,500 are non-taxable.