To investigate erring revenue officers, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has formed a special disciplinary committee aimed at looking into questionable tax audits.
In a statement on Monday, the BIR said the special disciplinary committee established through Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) No. 54-2016 issued on Aug. 30 would “speed up the investigation of revenue officers who fail the test of integrity, competence, and efficiency in the performance of their audit function or conduct of tax investigations in a move seen to further instill discipline among revenue officers in the conduct of their functions.”
“The committee will investigate and hear cases of revenue officers who have been asked to submit or have already submitted written explanations of what appear to be violations or substantial lapses or departure from existing issuances in the conduct of tax audit/investigations. These acts or omissions were engendered by a careful perusal of long outstanding letters of authority and letter notices and pending reports of termination of investigation,” the BIR explained.
A letter of authority is an official document that empowers revenue officers to examine and scrutinize taxpayers’ books in order to determine their correct tax liabilities.
According to the BIR, the committee was “set to hear the cases of at least 368 revenue officers who were served show cause orders and to explain within three days why they should not be charged administratively for their failure to terminate the investigation/verification of tax cases assigned to them and to submit the required reports of investigation.”
In a related development, Dulay also issued RMO 57-2016, which required revalidation of all letters of authority issued under the Run After tax Evaders (Rate) program.
“In view of the policy to strictly monitor existing tax investigations/audits and reporting on cases under the Rate program, all outstanding letters of authority, for which no preliminary assessments/final assessments have been issued or no cases have been filed with the Department of Justice or the courts as of June 30, 2016, shall be submitted to the Commissioner for special revalidation.” RMO 57-2016 said.