New BIR chief to sack erring examiners

Change is also coming over at the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) as Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay plans to rid the agency of bad eggs, especially among its tax examiners.

Separately, Dulay last Monday reminded BIR employees of the “no gift policy” in the agency.

On the sidelines of the the Cabinet-level, inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) meeting on Tuesday, Dulay told the Inquirer that he had ordered a review of the letters of authority—the official document that empowers revenue officers to examine and scrutinize taxpayers’ books in order to determine their correct tax liabilities—in order to know who among the BIR’s examiners have pending investigations and look into them.

Dulay said he would lead a command conference tomorrow with the BIR’s regional directors to discuss ways to address alleged corruption among tax examiners.

He said the BIR currently has about 3,000 examiners.

To determine who among the BIR’s examiners were bad eggs, “we’ll have to go through the process—we would look at their performance evaluation one by one,” Dulay said.

President Duterte earlier said the BIR was among the most corrupt government agencies.

In his first day as BIR commissioner last July 1, Dulay suspended ongoing audits on taxpayers as well as repealed all of the new rules that his predecessor Kim S. Jacinto-Henares issued last month.

Meanwhile, Dulay on July 4 issued Revenue Memorandum Order No. 40-2016, which reminded BIR employees of the observance of the “no gift policy.”

“As public servants and professionals, the BIR officials and employees adhere to the principle that a public office is a public trust and promote a high standard of ethics in public service,” Dulay pointed out.

“In this regard, we are expected to perform our duties and responsibilities without expectation of any favor or material reward. In this connection, our officials and employees are not allowed to accept nor solicit gifts, whether from the public or the private sectors,” the BIR chief said.

“To enforce this policy, our officials and employees are directed to immediately and politely return any gift that may be given. Further, the chief of the [BIR’s] internal security division is hereby instructed to implement this order,” he said.

Last week, Dulay issued RMO 38-2016, which revoked RMO 24-2016 and a subsequent amendment under RMO 25-2016. RMO 24-2016 was among the controversial issuances issued by Henares last June 8, which mandated possible audit or investigation of parties in transactions involving the assignment, sale or transfer of properties.

According to the Tax Management Association of the Philippines (TMAP), RMO 24-2016 “promotes corruption” as it “gives the BIR examiners wide latitude of discretion in determining what would constitute necessary documents to be submitted, and determine capacity to acquire.”

TMAP had also lamented that the RMO presumed taxpayers to have committed fraud, as well as was unreasonable, unfair and unjust to taxpayers.