CONSIDERING taxpayers’ never-ending obligation to pay taxes, it behooves them to keep pace with the different regulations issued by the Office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and more essentially, to properly understand and fully recognize the correct interpretation of these regulations.
THE MILLENNIUM Challenge Account — Philippines (MCA-P) has hired a former Internal Revenue and Customs commissioner to serve as program coordinator for all projects under a revenue administration initiative funded by a grant from the US government.
Commissioner Kim Henares of the Bureau of Internal Revenue said Thursday the government is already taking steps to probe businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles properties abroad. “We are coordinating with foreign governments kasi sa foreign governments pati bank accounts puwede namin makuha dito hindi,” Henares told reporters in Manila, adding that the government’s purpose was merely to “get information” from these foreign governments. The BIR is in the middle of investigating if Napoles, embroiled in a P10-billion pork barrel fund scam, has been paying the right taxes. Napoles had insisted her wealth came from legitimate sources, saying she owns shares in a mining company in Indonesia. It has likewise been reported thatvshe owns properties in the US. “If she has business abroad, mas malaki ang problema niya because the US tax you in a global manner… if you have a US connection,” Henares said. The BIR chief refused to elaborate further on her agency’s ongoing probe, saying: “Puwede kapag handa na kami, sasabihin ko.” Henares also revealed that some of the almost 30 properties earlier reported to be owned by Napoles could have been placed under other people’s names. Similar to doing a “google search,” Henares said her agency earlier asked around different agencies and searched their databases for any properties owned by Napoles. “So iyong nage-generate (so far i connection with Napoles) hindi nagmamatch sa 30 na real properties, 28 dati, ngayon 30… hindi sya nagma-match,” Henares said, adding the BIR is now in the process of tracing who the owners Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is on track to hit or even exceed its sin tax collection target of P60 billion this year, according to its top official. “We’re confident that we will reach the target. We think we can even surpass it,” said Internal Revenue commissioner Kim Henares. Excise tax collections from sin products grew 46 percent to P38.54 billion as of end-June. The bigger share of P22.38 billion came from excise tax revenues from tobacco products. Excise tax collections from alcohol amounted to P16.16 million, up 37 percent from P11.77 billion a year ago. Henares said the BIR would have collected P9 billion more if volumes did not fall by 43 percent. Nevertheless, collections were still up 56 percent compared with the previous year. The P12.15-billion increase in sin tax collections accounted for less than half of the expected P33.96 billion additional revenues that the government seeks to raise in the first year of implementation of the sin tax reform law. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The decline in volume was due to frontloading at the latter part of 2012. Of the total P33.96 billion in incremental six tax revenues expected this year, P22.9 billion would come from tobacco products while P11 billion would come from alcohol products. Henares said the BIR would have collected P9 billion more if volumes did not fall 43 percent. Nevertheless, collections were still up 56 percent compared with the previous year. The decline in Read More …
MANILA (Mabuhay) — As part of the campaign against graft and corruption, a Mindanao lawmaker over the weekend proposed the installation of high definition Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in all government offices, counters and booths that handle cash transactions especially in agencies like the Bureau of Customs (BoC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue […]
THE COURT of Tax Appeals (CTA) has lowered the tax dues of state-run Power Sectors Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) in relation to liabilities charged by the Bureau of Internal Revenue for 2006.
TAX collections from large taxpayers account for around 64% of the total annual tax take of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and the BIR will likely continue to rely heavily on the contributions of large taxpayers to its collection goal.
MANILA, Philippines – Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said yesterday the country remains on track to meeting its revenue collection targets following a strong economic growth in the first quarter. Bucking a worldwide economic slowdown, the Philippine economy expanded by 7.8 percent in the first quarter of the year – the fastest pace since 2010 – mainly driven by growth in the construction and manufacturing industries. It outpaced Asian powerhouse China, where the economy surprisingly grew by only 7.7 percent. “We are still on track to meet our goals for the tax effort and revenue effort, especially given our high first-quarter growth. We note that in the past, tax effort has gotten a significant boost from the first quarter of the year to the second, and we anticipate the same given our very successful tax collections in April this year,” Purisima said. Tax effort is an index measure of how well a country is doing in terms of tax collection relative to what could be reasonably expected given its economic potential. The Bureau of Internal Revenue, the government’s main tax collection agency, posted collections amounting to 9.2 percent of GDP while the Bureau of Customs’ collections stood (BIR), at 2.6 percent of GDP. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The Bureau of Treasury, meanwhile, recorded collections of 0.9 percent of GDP while other offices collected 0.1 percent of GDP. The government aims to increase the country’s tax effort to 16 percent by the end of Pres. Aquino’s term Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Customs (BOC) expects to release the result of the audit of imports of luxury car distributors soon. Customs commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon told reporters in a chance interview the BOC is conducting an audit of all luxury car importers to check possible undervaluation of vehicles brought in to the country. The results of the audit, he added, are expected to be out soon. “We’re just waiting for the report from the post entry audit group of the BOC,” he said. In March, he said a post-audit entry of vehicles imported by PGA Cars Inc. was being conducted amid uncertainties over declarations made by the firm. PGA Cars is the distributor of Porsche and Audi vehicles. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Biazon said PGA Cars has already submitted its books of accounts to the agency. “They had to comply, otherwise we can suspend their import license,” he said. He noted that books of accounts are needed for the audit as such provide more information compared to documents presented at the port of entry which only show the declared value of the units being brought in. “Remember, we signed up to the WTO (World Trade Organization) agreement on adopting the transaction value method. The price agreed upon by buyer and seller, that is the transaction value. But the books of accounts show more data, for example, what costs they reported to the Bureau of Internal Revenue,” he said. Apart from PGA Cars, Read More …
MANILA, Mar 31 (Mabuhay) – Those filing their income tax returns must make sure that the accountants and auditors they use are accredited by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the agency said over the weekend. “The BIR has discovered instances when the tax practitioners hired did not pay the taxes and the taxpayer had to […]