BIR sets measures to achieve new target

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is preparing a set of revenue collection measures designed to improve its performance and enable it to attain the revised collection target of P388 billion this year.

"We have identified some measures such as the complete installation of the documentary stamp tax (DST) metering machines," Internal Revenue Commissioner Rene Bañez told The STAR.

Bañez said they expect the new revenue regulations to be finalized in the next three to four days. These include the voluntary assessment program, the compromise and abatement program, and the revised expanded withholding tax. "We are hopeful that with these new revenue regulations, it will probably add to our revenue collection this year."

The voluntary assessment and the compromise programs were designed basically to clean up all receivables. The formulas for these revised programs are just improvements over existing rules.

Likewise, with the help of the Department of Local Government and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the BIR hopes to settle the delinquency accounts of the local government units (LGUs).

BIR data show that these accounts add up to roughly P200-million in principal plus a 25-percent surcharge (approximately P50 million).

Bañez said they have decided to waive the surcharge as long as the LGUs will pay the principal amount. He said they will implement the waiver as soon as the finance department approves their recommendation.

The bureau is looking at a revenue collection of P6.5-billion (best scenario) or P1.92-billion (worst scenario) from the LGUs representing year 2001 receivables.

The "best scenario" simply means the BIR would be able to get a P100 percent response from the LGUs to the measures. The "worst scenario" is the lowest collection they can collect. Either way, the bureau still believes it will help in reaching the target collection for the year.

The ability of the LGUs to meet their revenue collection goals depends on a combination of estimated receivables or collections for the year plus the release of the IRA (internal revenue allocations) by the National Government.