LAHORE: ePay Punjab, the first-ever government payment aggregator for citizen facilitation and ease of business, has collected over Rs500 million in tax revenue through multiple levies across Punjab in just 100 days.
This was informed during a progress review meeting presided by Punjab IT Board Chairman Azfar Manzoor on Wednesday.
The system, launched on 4th October last year as a collaborative endeavour between PITB and Punjab Finance Department, provides the general public with a stress-free and efficient method of paying all taxes and payments to the government using ICT tools without going through the existing cumbersome process.
The meeting was informed that multiple new payment channels, including debit /credit cards, mobile wallets, telco agent networks and direct debit from accounts, are being added to further increase the payment options available to the citizens and businesses.
Additionally, it is also planned to include government-to-public (G2P) and government-to-business (G2B) payment models in future to broaden the horizon of the programme. These include tax/non-tax receipts like online admission for colleges/school fee, driving license fee, e-challan, character certificate, domicile, fitness certificate (commercial vehicles) and agri income tax.
The ePay Punjab application lets the citizens of Punjab generate a 17-digit unique PSID number that is accepted on the respective channels of all banks in Pakistan. The banking channels, which the citizens can utilize for tax payments, include internet/mobile banking, ATM and over-the-counter (OTC)/branch visits. At the backend, ePay Punjab is integrated with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and 1-link for interconnectivity across the entire banking network.
The initiative has proved to be a game-changer in the local FinTech industry as it is playing a pivotal role in increasing tax revenue collection and improving financial inclusion in the province. In its first phase, 13 taxes/levies and five departments are made a part of the app and portal. Excise & Taxation, Board of Revenue, Punjab Land Records Authority (PLRA), Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) etc. are the departments liaised with the app where citizens can pay token tax, motor vehicle registration, transfer of motor vehicle, property tax, professional tax, cotton fee, e-stamping, mutation fee, sales tax on services, Punjab Infrastructure Development Cess, business registration fee and route permit through e-pay.
