MANILA, Philippines – The chairman of the ways and means committee of the House of Representatives has asked the Bureau of Internal Revenue to defer the full implementation of its online eBIR income tax filing due to numerous reports of system errors.
Marikina City Rep. Romero Quimbo was referring to Revenue Regulation No. 5-2015, which the lawmaker described as “commendable,” but still full of bugs and has yet to be fully understood by taxpayers.
In a letter recently sent to BIR commissioner Kim Henares, Quimbo said “there are implementation issues that the Bureau has to seriously consider before carrying out the regulation to its full extent.”
“Reports have reached my office that many taxpayers encounter delays or technical issues enrolling into the online eBIR form system. Particularly, as of April 3, 2015, taxpayers reported getting an error message that the system is ‘under construction’ and is, thus, unable to receive electronic submission,” Quimbo said.
He said the latest BIR regulation was only issued last March 17, or less than a month before the April 15 deadline.
“Considering the short time frame given, our taxpayers may not have sufficient time to adjust their systems and processes to fully comply with the mandatory requirement to use eBIR Forms and electronically submit said returns,” Quimbo said.
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He requested Henares to defer the imposition of penalties to taxable year 2015 so as to give taxpayers sufficient time to study and comply with the new system.
Quimbo’s office was swamped with complaints from taxpayers, especially from micro-entrepreneurs and employees with additional sources of income, regarding the new online income tax filing.
The House panel and the BIR have long been at loggerheads over efforts of the former to pass tax reform measures to ease the burden on ordinary and fixed-income taxpayers.
BIR officials have opposed any measure that would lessen its collections, but Quimbo’s committee has maintained the freed monies of taxpayers would boost their purchasing power and help the economy.
Quimbo said the BIR should also plug loopholes instead of making life difficult for fixed-income taxpayers.
