BIR establishes modern contact center in Banilad

The Bureau of Internal Revenue has established a state-of-the art contact center in Banilad yesterday to improve its collections and encourage voluntary compliance of taxpayers.

BIR regional director Jaime Santiago said the contact center is envisioned to be a facility where taxpayers can immediately obtain accurate and consistent tax information as well as give feedback concerning tax administration.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue has established a state-of-the art contact center in Banilad yesterday to improve its collections and encourage voluntary compliance of taxpayers.

BIR regional director Jaime Santiago said the contact center is envisioned to be a facility where taxpayers can immediately obtain accurate and consistent tax information as well as give feedback concerning tax administration.

Santiago said that by providing a single contact (telephone) number for the BIR (981-8888), taxpayers could have easier access to general tax information. Incidents of callers being referred to wrong BIR offices will also be minimized, if not totally eliminated.

Taxpayers will also be properly advised by contact center agents on the documents they have to bring to the Revenue District Offices (RDOs) for a particular transaction. As a result, transaction time at the RDOs will be significantly reduced.

Self-service information on TIN application and filing of tax forms were also made available at the center's Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) to make it accessible even after office hours and during holidays.

Santiago said that with the contact center handling the bulk of general inquiries, frontline offices would have more time to attend to walk-in taxpayers because of the reduced volume of calls.

Other than responding to taxpayer inquiries, complaints and suggestions of taxpayers will also be handled by the contact center through a tracking system, which is capable to log feedback and track down the status of actions taken by concerned offices in the bureau.

The contact center is a joint undertaking of the BIR and the Canadian International Development Agency.

It can immediately respond to general inquiries raised via telephone, e-mail and voicemail concerning the following: tax registration - TIN application, application for computerized accounting system and cash register machine/point of sale machine; authority to print invoices; one-time transactions - capital gains tax, donor's tax, estate tax and documentary stamp tax; tax information - income tax, VAT, withholding tax, percentage tax revenue issuances - revenue regulations, revenue memorandum orders, revenue memorandum circulars, among others.. - Jasmin R. Uy