New BIR chief to come down hard on firms not issuing receipts

The new chief of the Bureau of Internal Revenue has ordered the agency’s officials to step-up the collection of penalties from establishments that do not issue receipts.

BIR Commissioner Sixto Esquivias IV said the move is part of efforts to raise more revenues amid heavy pressure from Malacañang to boost collections.

Companies that do not issue receipts for goods and services that they provide face monetary penalties from the BIR of varying amounts such as P1,000, P25,000 and P50,000 depending on the nature and frequency of violations.

The BIR may also order the closure of the establishment, depending on the degree of violation.

According to the BIR, common violations consist of non-issuances of receipts, failure to register with the BIR, non-display of the “Ask For Receipt” public notice, non-keeping of accounting books/records in the place of undertaking and the use of unauthorized cash register machines (CRMs) and point-of-sales (POS) machines.

Esquivias, who took over the helm of the BIR last November following the resignation of his predecessor Lilian Hefti, drew last week the 110th winner of a P1 million cash prize under the agency’s “Premyo Sa Resibo” (PSR) electronic lottery project.

The move is aimed at promoting tax awareness by encouraging consumers in the country to demand official receipts and sales invoices from business establishments and from professional practitioners rendering services for fees.

The project has a price offering of P100,000 to P1 million every two weeks.

Following the call of Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves to widen taxpayers’ database, the BIR has been centering its tax drive among business and commercial establishments in the country that do not issue official receipts (ORs).

Esquivias said that PSR campaign together with the “No OR” complaint facility has enabled the bureau to improve its database, noting that the number of business registrants has significantly increased compared to previous year’s records.

This year, the BIR is tasked to collect P845 billion although the government expects the agency to raise just P810 billion due to lower economic growth and higher income tax exemptions.