BIR urged to defer directive on new receipts

Tax practitioners in the country have urged the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to defer anew the implementation of the regulation requiring the use of new receipts, saying many corporate entities and entrepreneurs would not be able to comply with the Aug. 31 schedule.

In a letter to Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares, the Tax Management Association of the Philippines Inc. (TMAP) said the two-month extension earlier granted by the BIR was still not enough for all enterprises and individual businessmen in the country to secure new sets of receipts as prescribed by the tax bureau.

TMAP, an organization of private-sector accountants and auditors, suggested that the regulation on the issuance of new receipts be made to take effect starting Jan. 1, 2014.

Alternatively, the group said, the implementation could be done on a staggered basis—enterprises and entrepreneurs should be required to start issuing new receipts on different dates depending on when printers are able to service their receipt-printing requests.

TMAP said that based on the number of accredited printers, it would be impossible for all entities and individual entrepreneurs in the country to secure new receipts on time.

The BIR earlier said it accredited 2,250 printers to service the receipt requirements.

“[The] two-month extension appears to be too short for BIR-accredited printers to service the printing requirements of registered taxpayers all over the country,” the group said in the letter dated July 29.

Last January, the BIR announced that a regulation requiring the issuance of new receipts would take effect on July 1. It also said penalties would be slapped on businesses and individual entrepreneurs who would fail to comply.

Failure to issue new receipts can result in the payment of a fine of P50,000 while the owners of the business establishments can be imprisoned for up to four years.

But due to clamor against the schedule, the BIR gave in and deferred the implementation of the regulation to Aug. 31.

The BIR said there was an urgent need to implement the regulation on the issuance of new receipts to address the substantial leakage in revenue collection due to the proliferation of fake receipts being sold to tax evaders and smugglers.

The BIR also said that the regulation was in response to complaints that some unscrupulous BIR personnel were giving businesses a hard time to secure an authority to print receipts (ATP) to force them to tap the printing services of these employees’ preferred printers, some of which were owned by their relatives.

Under the new regulation, relatives of BIR personnel are not allowed to offer receipt-printing services.