“The only thing that is constant is change,” said Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher who insisted on ever-present change as being the fundamental essence of the universe. Our new President Rodrigo R. Duterte ran and won on a platform advocating change. He vowed to reform the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) which he specially mentioned as one of the most corrupt government agencies and which he initially wanted to be abolished.
With appointment of the new Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner, Atty. Cesar R. Dulay, everyone is expecting significant changes to happen in the BIR. Atty. Dulay is joining an organization cited by President Duterte as one of the most corrupt government agencies. Certainly, changing such an organization will be one gargantuan task. Stakeholders like the local and foreign business organizations, tax practitioners, individual taxpayers, and foreign investors are eagerly observing the changes that are being introduced. It is worthwhile to examine the BIR issuances released by the new Commissioner for the first two weeks after he assumed his post last July 1. These issuances give the stakeholders and observers a clear insight of the changes what we will expect and the priorities of this new administration.
Even with the upcoming change in leadership, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has not scaled back on efforts to meet its steep collection target of more than two trillion pesos. To this end, it is no coincidence that the BIR has come up with more detailed guidelines and strict control measures to plug possible loopholes in our tax system. In recent issuances, the BIR has provided guidelines covering the conduct of investigation on the capacity of parties to acquire properties and clarifying the tax treatment of gross receipts tax passed on to borrowers.
In recent years, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has experienced setbacks in many cases where the courts set aside and canceled deficiency tax assessments on the ground that the waiver signed by the taxpayer is invalid. As many taxpayers will know, the waiver — technically, the “Waiver of the Statute of Limitations” — extends the period within which the BIR may issue a deficiency assessment against a taxpayer…
With the determination to fulfill its mandate even in the midst of challenges, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has come up with a strategic plan that is designed to help the organization achieve its vision to be an institution of service excellence and integrity. This strategic plan will serve as the BIR’s roadmap for the next five years (i.e., 2016-2020) and aims to achieve seven high-level strategic objectives, namely: attain collection targets and sustain collection growth; improve taxpayer satisfaction and compliance; strengthen good governance; improve assistance and enforcement; build and deploy information technology systems, processes and tools; improve integrity, competence, professionalism and satisfaction of human resources; and optimize management resources. These seven overarching objectives shall support the BIR’s goal of improving services to taxpayers to increase voluntary compliance and of enforcing the laws for those who do not comply.
Taxpayers may have finally been given two rays of hope by the Court of Tax Appeals when it comes to the applicability of deficiency and delinquency interest in tax assessments. Taxpayers under assessment are often faced with two types of interest under the Tax Code. The first, deficiency interest, is imposed on any deficiency tax due from the date prescribed for its payment until the full payment thereof. The second, delinquency interest, is imposed on the deficiency tax, or any surcharge or interest thereon on the due date appearing in the notice and demand of the BIR. Interest rates for both are at 20%.
For 2016, the Philippines’ national budget is around P3 trillion and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is tasked to collect around P2 trillion. Out of the BIR’s total collection target, about P1.243 trillion is expected to come from income taxes. That is how important income taxes are for the country, accounting for around 41% of the national budget. It is interesting to note, however, that a lot of countries are now shifting their focus to indirect tax. The primary reasons behind the global shift to indirect tax are discussed in an article released by Grant Thornton International (Grant Thornton) entitled “Rethinking Tax: The shift to indirect tax,” and I would like to share this article with you.
“I love the Philippines, I Pay My Taxes Right. It’s easy as RFP.” This was the tax campaign theme of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) launched in 2014. According to the BIR, the concept of love for the country was carried in the RFP campaign. RFP stands for Register, File and Pay which captures the basic steps that a taxpayer should follow to be able to comply with his obligation of “paying right taxes” for nation building. Failure to comply may result in significant financial consequences on the taxpayer, with imprisonment as a worst case.
Taxation is the lifeblood of the government. For the government to function, it needs its citizens to contribute to this lifeblood. With the mandate to assess and collect national taxes, the BIR is starting off 2016 with two things: a collection goal through Revenue Memorandum Order No. 2-2016 and a number of programs to attain that as summarized in Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 14-2016.
TAXPAYERS may now lodge applications for certifications of their transactions with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) with local offices of the agency.