Inclusion
No bank account or smartphone needed: the voucher can also be bought in cash from an authorised agent and presented as a code.
Home / Public Payment Voucher
Offer 02
Public Payment Voucher
A prepaid payment instrument, fixed in amount, single-use and verifiable, that separates payment from the procedure. The citizen pays wherever suits them, the officer validates in one gesture, the Treasury collects before the act is even delivered.
01
The principle
Three steps for the citizen, one gesture for the officer. Decoupling payment from the procedure is what changes everything.
01
Buy
The citizen buys a voucher at the official fee for the act, by mobile money, card, bank branch or authorised outlet, for themselves or for someone else.
02
Present
They present the voucher code at the counter or enter it in the online procedure. No cash changes hands during the procedure.
03
Redeem
The officer checks and redeems the voucher in one gesture. The act is delivered, the voucher is cancelled, the event is logged.
02
Design principles
- Fixed amount and enforceable fee. The voucher is worth exactly the fee set by the legal text. No surcharge is possible at the counter.
- Lightly nominative. Linked to a phone number and, where the legal text requires it, to an identity, without excessive data collection.
- Single, verifiable use. Each voucher has a status: issued, redeemed, refunded. The administration checks it in real time; a voucher cannot be used twice.
- Refundable. An unredeemed voucher is refundable under the conditions set by the administration.
- Technology neutral. Any licensed payment channel, any counter, any online procedure. The voucher depends on no single operator.
- Revenue recorded at purchase. The Treasury collects at issuance. Redemption becomes a traceability event that matches the act to the revenue.
03
Why a voucher
Third-party payer
A relative in town, an employer or an association can buy the voucher for someone else, who uses it wherever they are.
Integrity
No cash at the counter and an enforceable fee: informal practices lose their foothold.
Cash flow
Revenue is collected before the act is delivered and ring-fenced until remittance, which improves public cash flow.
04
Three types of revenue covered
| Type of revenue | Examples | What the voucher brings |
|---|---|---|
| Secure documents | Passport, identity card, birth certificate, driving licence. | Single fee nationwide, cash-free queues, enforceable proof of purchase. |
| Local taxes and charges | Stall fees, market taxes, municipal permits. | Traceable collection for local authorities, an end to paper receipt books, real-time consolidation. |
| Taxes and fees | Property taxes, vehicle stickers, service fees. | Prepayment matched to the return, targeted reminders, less field inspection. |
Framework
A scheme anchored in existing texts
The voucher does not create a fee: it materialises the fee set by the text in force. In most frameworks, the electronic fiscal stamp is its direct precedent.
Issuance is entrusted to a payment institution licensed by the country's central bank. Funds are ring-fenced in a dedicated account and remitted to the Treasury under the agreement. Prudential points, where they exist, are worked through with the regulator before the pilot is launched.
The voucher converges with procedures already digitised: an online service accepts the voucher as one reference-based payment among others.
A pilot across three types of revenue
We suggest starting with three pilots covering a secure document, a local tax and a national tax, to test the scheme across different volumes.