Cagayan de Oro City Hall reached its target of 20,000 business permit renewals last Feb. 25 or four days ahead of the Feb. 29 deadline extension, the Business Permit Licensing Division (BPLD) said on Monday.

Last week or the Feb. 19 to Feb. 25 period, City Hall received 1,501 business permit renewals and 179 new business permit registrations.

 

BPLD said this raised to 20,086 the business permit renewals in the city along with 1,311 new business permit registrations or a total of 21,397 permits issued by City Hall from Jan. 2 to Feb. 25. .

This is slightly bigger than the 19,674 business permits issued by City Hall for the same Jan. 2 to Feb. 25 period last year.

 

From Jan. 2 to Feb. 25 of 2023, City Hall recorded 18,523 business permit renewals and 1,151 business permit registrations.

 

Those unable to pay after the Feb. 29 deadline extension will face penalties. City Hall expects a bigger turnout of business owners that will renew their business permits and/or finalize their business registrations on Feb. 29, the extension given to them since last month.

 

A post assessment of the ongoing business permit renewal and registration is being conducted by the BPLD and the departments comprising the business registration/renewal team.

 

In Monday’s flag raising program, City Administrator Atty. Roy Hilario Raagas cited the city’s local business taxes as a crucial revenue source for City Hall, saying it is twice bigger than the P2.5 billion to P3 billion received by Cagayan de Oro City as national tax allotment (NTA) from the national government.

 

‘If I’m not mistaken, the city generates P6 billion in local business taxes and this amount (along with the NTA) funds the development programs of City Hall,’ Raagas said.

The BIR local district office is sponsoring a two-day forum starting Monday on the proposed revenue regulations to implement Republic Act 11976 or The Ease of Paying Taxes (EOPT). (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)