Recto wants expanded ties with SEC in tax enforcement

World Economic Forum President Bّrge Brende joined by the country’s government economic leaders Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs Frederick Go, and National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan answer the media during the press conference on the World Economic Forum (WEF) Country Roundtable in Malacanan Palace, Manila on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (PPA POOL / JONATHAN CELLONA)

There should be more coordination between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to help the government rake in more revenues, according to Finance Secretary Ralph Recto.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the induction ceremony for new officers of the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines, Recto said he recently met with the SEC to discuss more collaborations with the BIR, an attached agency of the Department of Finance (DOF).

“The SEC can help the BIR to be able to collect more revenues. They (SEC) have the repository of information on all the companies, so everyone in the DOF must constantly communicate,” Recto said.

As of November 2023, government revenues climbed by 8.75 percent to P3.56 trillion, data from the Bureau of Treasury showed. This represented 95.58 percent of the government’s P3.73-trillion target for 2023.

Collaboration

Both the SEC and BIR have long been collaborating mainly to tighten tax enforcement.In September last year, the SEC partnered with the United Nations and nonprofit organization Open Ownership to aid the BIR in its campaign against tax evaders.

The SEC had said that utilizing information on companies’ beneficial ownership, or those with an ownership stake of at least 25 percent in corporations, could be used to reveal individuals “who ultimately control legal entities and aid in the promotion of tax integrity.”

The Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (Tracit) found in a November 2023 report that the Philippines was losing P500 billion annually to tax evasion and tax-related crimes.

According to Tracit, these crimes are associated with illicit trade, including smuggling and money laundering.