Tax collection measures gaining ground

Revenue District Officer Ricardo Espiritu said that so far the tax collection measures which his office has been implementing are gaining ground and Iloilo tax payers are finding the local Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Office “very helpful”.

RDO Espiritu said that tax payers do not have the reason to be afraid of the BIR because the agency is ready to help them put their revenue accounts in order and for them to avail of tax collection measures which are convenient and easy to comply with.

“More than just investigations on violations, are measures which are coupled with personal visitations and consultations”, Espiritu said.

As RDO, he personally visits and talks with tax payers and encourage them to voluntarily pay their taxes in compliance with BIR tax collections measures instituted. He even goes out of his way to observe how business in the city runs at particular times of the day or night. Not only with businessmen does Espiritu talk, but also with professionals, most of whom he discovered to be dutifully tax compliant in the practice of their profession.

RDO Espiritu is also keen on fully informing the newly registered taxpayers of their responsibilities, hence, his office issues their certificates of registration only after they have attended the half day seminar, scheduled every Wednesday morning at the BIR office. Required to attend this are not the bookkeepers of companies or businesses but the owners themselves.

“I make it a point that no taxpayer complains of ignorance of the requirements and the procedures, whenever they are caught violating some terms”, Espiritu said.

He also noted that the launching of the BIR's “No Audit Program” (NAP) generated positive response from the 400 companies and businesses who attended the orientation they conducted for Iloilo City and Zarraga district in April this year.

He said the NAP, as stipulated in the Executive Order signed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on January 17, 2005, seeks to encourage tax payers to voluntarily declare and pay higher taxes which results to reduced administrative costs that may be brought about by the audit and investigations which the BIR will conduct.

The NAP exempts qualified taxpayers from audit and/or investigation for the period for which they qualify. The BIR continues its massive information dissemination and consultations on the NAP and expects that in the long run, this will challenge businesses and industries to expand and grow.

As an ongoing directive from BIR Commissioner Guillermo Parayno, Jr. RDO Espiritu works on the preparation of the benchmark for their tax collection targets for the second half of the year. As of April 30, 2005, the RDO has realized a collection of P275,177,556.47, which exceed its goal of P271,648,000.00, by P3,529,556.47. RDO Espiritu considers this amount still small but he expects that it will increase after all the collections have been remitted.

RDO Espiritu said that his immediate goal is to relentlessly pursue tax mapping operations, which so far, has been contributing not only to increased tax collection, but also in developing a deeper spirit of voluntary tax compliance among tax payers from all sectors.

“Many people have no intention of evading taxation. They just are not properly advised and guided”, RDO Ricardo Espiritu said. (PIA/ESSubong)