Calling app developers! Join Hack-a-Tax and help make taxpayer services digital
This is a callout to all interested app developers. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has launched a digital initiative aimed at making it easier for taxpayers and business entities to access and interact with the BIR online.
In a recent press conference, we witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement among the stakeholders involved: Asian Consulting Group (ACG) headed by Raymond Abrea, Founding Chairman and long-time tax advocate; the BIR (main beneficiary of Tax-a-Hack), and Developers Connect (DevCon) Philippines, a volunteer organization that promotes collaborative growth and global competence of Filipino developers; and ANC’S On The Money host, Salve Duplito.
According to Mon Abrea of ACG, the hackathon is not looking for end-to-end solutions but can be apps that address certain touchpoints that will ease SME/MSME’S or an individual taxpayer’s experience with the BIR. He mentioned several areas that can be the focused of the apps including tax registration, TIN application, tax filing, and tax payments.
DevCon’s Winston Damarillo said this was a good chance for people from different backgrounds and interests to pair up and form a team: IT students, tax experts, seasoned app developers, tax advocates, and even lawyers.
Interested parties may submit their proposals until November 15, 2019. Details and mechanics can be found at the official Hack-a-Tax website at www.hackatax.ph.
Here are some of the mechanics:
From all submitted proposals, a panel of judges composed of IT and tax experts will review, choose and announce the top 10 entries during the PH Startup Week on November 22, 2019. From November 23 to December, 2019, Hack-a-Tax finalists will proceed to the app development phase where they will have access to mentors such as BIR resource persons, tax experts, IT developers and industry leaders.
The BIR will conduct a one-day boot camp on the third week of January 2020 where
experts will mentor the finalists before the day of their actual app or programming presentation to a panel of distinguished jurors. The top 3 winners will then be selected.
The app developers will continue to own, operate, maintain and monetize their apps, if chosen as winners, said Winston Damarillo, Founder of DevCon.
The winners will also get the following cash prizes: PhP100,000.00 for the third placer, PhP200,000.00 for the second placer and PhP300,000.00 for the first placer.
The mobile apps are expected to be ready for service by February 2020 in time for the April 15, 2020 deadline for the annual individual income tax filing and payment.
Hack-a-Tax Philippines is co-organized by DevCon Philippines, Asian Consulting Group (ACG) and media.Xchange PR.
