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By Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan, October 28 2018; Business World
https://www.bworldonline.com/bir-reduces-reporting-workload-for-district-offices/
Image Credit to Business World
THE BUREAU of Internal Revenue (BIR) ordered its district offices to dispense with the monthly reporting of “irrelevant” information concerning withholding taxes, and focus on attaining collection targets.
Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) 47-2018 dated Oct. 10 and made public on Oct. 26, discontinued the Monthly Report on Registration and Remittance of Withholding Taxes, and Accomplishment Report on Pre-Audited Withholding Tax Returns.
“The preparation of the Monthly Report on Registration and Remittance of Withholding Taxes (Form No. W7) and the Accomplishment Report on Pre-Audited Withholding Tax Returns (WTRs) (BIR Form No. W8) by all concerned Revenue District Offices, including the concerned revenue offices under the Large Taxpayers Service, and its subsequent submission to the Miscellaneous Operations Monitoring Division (formerly Withholding Tax Division) of the Collection Service is hereby terminated,” it said.
“In case of need for information that are otherwise available in the said reports, the concerned Office under the Information Systems Group of this Bureau shall extract the desired information, in so far as available in the Integrated Tax System or other electronic systems or facilities of this Bureau, in coordination with the Miscellaneous Operations Monitoring Division,” it added.
The BIR said that the level of compliance with the said reports was “notably low,” amid the lack of available manpower as there was a need to pay “immediate attention to high-priority activities.”
The BIR said that despite measures to streamline processes, its personnel are still required to perform such manual procedures due to existing Revenue Regulations.
“After reevaluation of the governing revenue issuances and the availability of information in the Bureau’s data warehouse, these reports may be considered irrelevant and can therefore be dispensed with in order that the concerned revenue personnel of the RDOs can focus their efforts towards the attainment of their tax collection targets,” it said.
The BIR collected P1.44 trillion in the nine months to September, up 11% from a year earlier, but 2% below its P1.47-trillion target, according to the Bureau of the Treasury.
The latest collection total is equivalent to 70.62% of the original full-year target of P2.039 trillion.
The Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) on Oct. 16 lowered the overall revenue target by P26 billion to P2.820 trillion due to the deferred implementation of the electronic receipts and fuel marking program under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law. The BIR has yet to disclose its new target reflecting these adjustments. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan
