BIR vows to make it easier for businesses to pay taxes

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) over the weekend committed before business leaders to further make it easier to pay taxes.

In a statement on Saturday, the BIR said Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay met last Friday with leaders of the country’s major business groups, during which they discussed how the latter “can cooperate and support to significantly improve, if not to fully attain, the revenue collection goal for this year.”

The BIR had been tasked to collect P2.026 trillion in taxes this year. The latest data from the country’s biggest tax collection agency showed that as end-May, the BIR’s tax take amounted P660 billion, up by over a tenth year-on-year but a fifth below the P833.9-billion target for the five-month period.

Business leaders nonetheless also raised pending issues when dealing with the BIR, specifically: tax simplification; tax amnesty; suspension of audit; simplification of requirements for clearances/permits; revenue regulations with impact on their businesses; renewal of registration for tax exemption; and policies on storage of documents.

In response to businessmen’s concerns, Dulay “conveyed the bureau’s openness and transparency in its dealings with taxpayers,” the statement said.

“[Dulay] asked the business leaders to help and support the present administration and the bureau by giving the revenues that the government needs for its operations. He also expressed his willingness and openness to consider the business leaders’ suggestions and requested them to submit a list of revenue issuances that they want the bureau to review or revisit and to appoint technical people who will coordinate with the BIR on the matter,” it added.

During the meeting, Dulay also noted of several issuances he made in his first few days in office, including the suspension of tax audits as well as the reduction in processing and release time for a number of BIR certifications.

“Whatever changes or improvement that will be undertaken will have significant implication on the tax take for the year. Said changes should not only help business taxpayers but more importantly also benefit the lower strata of the population because of the President’s policy to prioritize the poor and disadvantaged,” Dulay was quoted by the statement as saying.

Among the business leaders who met with Dulay include the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s George Barcelon, Edgardo Lacson and Alfredo Yao; Employers Confederation of the Philippines’ Donald Dee; Philippine Exporters Confederation’s Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr.; Philippine Food Exporters Confederation’s Roberto Amores; Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s Henry Lim Bon; and Francis Chua of the International Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines as well as the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce.