BIR says income tax evasion still rampant

The Bureau of Internal Revenue wants to boost the collection of income taxes from individuals by 16 percent to P258 billion this year.

The BIR said in a statement that the 2013 target was being pursued following the continually high incidence of tax evasion among professionals and self-employed businessmen.

The agency said it would continue to intensify its campaign against tax cheats, especially since high-income individuals—who pay an average of less than P20,000 a year—have made salary earners shoulder the bulk of the government’s tax revenue.

Estela V. Sales, deputy commissioner at the BIR, said the agency was hopeful that its Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) program would continue to encourage people to be vigilant and report those who would not file and pay the correct taxes.

According to the BIR, more than a fifth of its tax collection represented individual income taxes, with a big part coming from those whose employers automatically withhold their payments.

The BIR said the incidence of tax evasion among professionals in the country remained “high.”

Citing data from the Professional Regulation Commission, the BIR said there were some three million registered professionals in the country—190,000 are doctors and lawyers who earn more than salaried workers.

The RATE program’s “batting average at the Department of Justice (had been) dismal if you look at the number of cases that actually make it to the courts,” Sales said. “Now, the increase in the number of cases that reach the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) is much higher.”