BIR cracks down on illegal receipt printers

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is cracking down hard on unauthorized printers of receipts, most of whom are said to be aiding tax evaders.

According to the BIR, it has been receiving complaints about fake receipts. This development prompted the agency to issue a circular warning companies not to use receipts produced by non-accredited printers.

The circular is meant to remind businesses that receipts from printers not accredited by the BIR will not be honored by the agency when used for purposes of claiming input tax.

“Only printers that have been granted accreditation by the BIR are authorized to print principal and supplementary receipts/invoice,” the BIR said in revenue memorandum circular No. 61-2013 signed by Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares.

The circular complements an earlier BIR regulation that required firms to get rid of their old receipts and use the new ones produced by accredited printers.

Some businesses were required to start using the new receipts on Aug. 31.

The BIR said the regulation was meant to deter tax evasion resulting from the rampant use of fake receipts. It also meant to address complaints that some BIR employees had forced taxpayers to use receipts from printers owned by relatives of bureau personnel.

Henares said the regulation prohibiting the use of old receipts was part of the BIR’s effort to plug tax leakages and boost government revenues.

According to the World Bank, the government loses about P450 billion in potential revenues a year due to tax evasion.

Henares said the ongoing measures to curb tax evasion and under-declaration of incomes were meant to boost the BIR’s annual tax collection.

Last year, the BIR collected P1.066 trillion in taxes, breaching the trillion-peso mark for the first time. This year, it is tasked to collect P1.253 trillion.

Its head agency, the Department of Finance, tasked the BIR to collect at least P2 trillion in taxes by 2016.