Before you get all excited about paying your taxes with your cellphone so you can get back to eating Cheese Doodles and watching World Series Poker, note that this is only happening in the Philippines currently. The country’s Internal Revenue Bureau has struck a deal with major telecom and banking groups that will allow personal income taxes to be paid via SMS. Unfortunately, this new PAYBIR service as they’re calling it will only let you pay up to $281 (R10,000) of taxes and not a penny more, most likely for liability reasons.
I should fly over there and open a freelance accounting service. I’ll get a nice comfy chair, people can drop their cellphones and personal info in a mailbox, and I’ll text their taxes for a fee of $5. Genius, like the via link.