LAHORE – ePay Punjab, the first-ever government payment aggregator for citizen facilitation and ease of business, has collected over Rs500 million in tax revenue from multiple levies across Punjab in just 100 days.
This was informed in a progress review meeting presided by Chairman Punjab IT Board Azfar Manzoor on Wednesday. The system was launched on 4th October last year as a collaborative endeavour between Punjab Information Technology Board and Finance Department of Punjab which 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 like Debit / Credit Card, Mobile Wallets, TELCO Agent Networks and Direct Debit from Account 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 program and following Tax/Non-Tax receipts like Online Admission for Colleges/Schools 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 seventeen (17) digit unique PSID number that is accepted on all respective channels of all banks in Pakistan. The banking channels which the citizens can utilize for tax payments are Internet / Mobile Banking, ATM and Over the Counter (OTC) / Branch Visits. At the backend ePay, Punjab is integrated with State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and 1-link for interconnectivity across the entire banking network in Pakistan. The app is the first-ever government payment aggregator in Punjab for the public to the government (P2G) and business to government (B2G) payments.
The initiative has proved to be a game-changer in the local FinTech industry by playing a pivotal role in increasing tax revenue collection of the province and improving financial inclusion. In its first phase, 13 taxes/levies and 5 departments are made a part of the app and portal. Excise & Taxation, Board of Revenue (BOR), Punjab Land Records Authority (PLRA), Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA), Industries, Transport are the departments liaised with the app whereas citizens can pay Token Tax, Motor Vehicle Registration, Transfer of Motor Vehicle, Property Tax, Professional Tax, Cotton fee, e-Stamping, Mutation fee, Fard fee, Sales Tax on Services, Punjab Infrastructural Development, Cess, Business Registration fee and Route permit through e-pay.
