CoA uncovers delayed remittances in city's land tax division
The Commission on Audit (CoA) noted a long period of delay in the remittances of Real Property Taxes in the Land Tax Division of the City Treasurer's Office. The delay in the remittances exposed the funds to risk and misuse of loss of interest income of the city government.
In the 2006 COA report, it said there is a long delay in the remittances of real property taxes collected during the deadline on March 21, 2006. The Verified Accountable Forms No.56, showed that collections dated March 31, 2006 were remitted by the collectors to the liquidating officer in the Cash Receipts Division from April 3, 2006 up to June 16, 2006. There is a computed delay of remittance for two and a half months.
The same COA report said of the sample, 5,878 official receipts taken, all dated March 31, 2006 totaling to P21,786,913.02. Of the total issued receipts, P2,021,319.10 were issued for cash transactions and P19,765,593.92 are in checks.
COA found out that the collections were not directly received by the collectors from the tax payers during the deadline on March 31, 2006. They are rather assigned to collectors for the issuance of official receipts after the deadline.
The remittances to the Cash Receipts Division were made on the same day. However, the process of issuing the official receipt for the collections received on the tax deadline on March 31, 2006 had extended up to June 16, 2006.
"The delayed remittances of collections to the liquidating in the Cash Receipts Division for deposit to the bank for a period of more than two months and half had exposed government funds to risk and misuse and probable loss of interest income. The funds could have earned interest if deposited earlier in the bank and if procedures have been fast tracked," the report said.
The same CoA report recommended that the Real Property Tax Division should stop the practice of issuing provisional acknowledgment receipts even during tax deadlines and seek ways to improve its services. It is recommended that they use the priority-number systems. "The volume of transactions is far more than the collectors' capacity to handle, augment the existing workforce from the other department."