Ecuadoreans can now pay taxes through cellphones

MANILA, Philippines - Ecuadoreans can now pay tax using their cellphones, a further sign of mobile money services taking off in Latin America, according to the Ecuadorean daily El Telegrafo.

The Internal Tax Service launched the electronic payment application in October last year, and since then has amassed some 43,000 users, El Telegrafo said.

More than 520,000 people are eligible for the service, who are signed up to a program to simplify tax payments, based on the Central Bank of Ecuador.

Nelson Leon was one of the first to use the tool. He told El Telegrafo that the electronic payment eliminated the need to visit the bank each month.

The move reflects a wider trend in Latin America towards this and other mobile money services.

The mobile tools originated in African and Asian nations, where rural customers making small personal payments were key users.

In Latin America, 15 million people use mobile money as part of urban middle class lifestyles.

An Financial Times Confidential survey found that the technology has emerged as a convenience device that boosts financial inclusion.

In 2014, 50,000 Paraguayans were given loans from mobile money provider Tigo. Of these, 85 percent had never before had a bank account.