Business registrations will soon be made easier and more convenient with the upcoming update to the electronic payment tool of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of Finance (DOF) said yesterday.
In a statement, the DOF said this will be expanded to accept registration fee payments to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) as well.
In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, the SEC said its Electronic Simplified Processing of Application for Registration of Company (eSPARC) launched in April last year presently allows online payment of SEC fees.
This online payment feature will further be enhanced to facilitate one-time payment of both SEC and BIR registration fees by the third quarter of 2022.
Javey Paul Francisco, SEC commissioner, said in his report during a recent DOF executive committee meeting that from January 1 to May 15 of this year, the commission has processed 25,685 online applications for business registrations.
This brings the total number of applications processed through eSPARC to 69,350 since the digital tool was launched in the second quarter of 2021.
Dominguez earlier directed the SEC and other DOF-attached agencies to fast-track their respective digitalization programs to ensure the continued delivery of services to the public during the pandemic and to prepare them for the transition to the new economy.
Earlier, SEC Chairman Emilio Aquino said the fastest time recorded for processing an eSPARC application after the payment of the registration fee has been made was one minute, 14 seconds, while the longest time was two hours and 37 minutes.
As most of the company information is pre-filed under the One-day Submission and E-registration of Companies, which is a subsystem of eSPARC, the application for registration requires minimal encoding of data online.
In March last year, the SEC also launched its Electronic System for Payments to SEC to facilitate the payment of registration charges, penalties and other transaction fees with the SEC online using debit and credit cards, digital wallets and other cashless payment options.
The SEC also launched the Electronic Filing and Submission System that allows companies to submit the audited financial statement, general information sheet, sworn statement for foundations, general form for financial statements, special form for financial statement and other reportorial requirements. – Angela Celis
