BIR sees P28 billion to P31 billion in collection from EVAT this year

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has set a target of P109 billion in collections from the expanded value-added tax (VAT) alone for the year 2006.

The agency also expects to collect an additional P28 billion to P31 billion for this year once the new law is implemented starting July 1, BIR Commissioner Guillermo Parayno said during yesterday’s launch of a nationwide information campaign on Republic Act 9337.

"We are now going the rounds of business sectors. Yesterday we had all business representatives. At this very moment, we are talking to the petroleum companies and the oil players. Tomorrow we will talk to the power sector. We are making sure that the (VAT) law will really provide the revenues," he said.

Parayno expressed confidence that the BIR will reach its targets for this year and the next "with the kind of support that we are getting from the private sector and the upbeat attitude of BIR personnel."

The revenue from the extra VAT, he said, will bring down the budget deficit to about P150 billion this year, and a little over P100 billion next year.

Parayno said a key part of the success of the revenue-generating drive is for all businesses to issue official receipts.

He and Lance Gokongwei, Robinsons Group of Companies president and chief operations officer, went to the Robinsons Galleria supermarket to change the old BIR notice on the wall to one bearing a new design and a message urging all business establishments to issue receipts.

"We are really hoping that this is eye catching, and would be appreciated by the public," Parayno said. "If the people ask for receipts, the money they are paying by way of taxes will reach the government and be used for the development of the country."

He explained that receipts form the basis for computing the output VAT for business establishments and input VAT for customers.

Parayno added that more than 50 percent of its collection from the VAT will go to education, health services, social services and infrastructure. He said the target collection will be increased by five percent every year.

"So practically all of the collections will go back to the public through the services that would be given by the government, particularly to the marginalized sectors of society," he said.

Meanwhile, Parayno said the BIR is looking into records showing that approximately P90 billion is paid out in the form of salaries, compared to only about P4 billion in income declared by professionals or self-employed for 2003.

"The figure shows there is a lot of ‘unfaithfulness.’ It turns out that certain actors and actresses put their trust in fixers" to prepare and file their tax returns, he said, citing charges filed against alleged tax evaders in the entertainment industry.

Gokongwei said the support the government needs is for all businesses to pay correct taxes. Another way businessmen can help the BIR is to communicate its information campaign to broaden the tax base and help the public understand the reason for taxation.

"I think all businessmen, all responsible businessmen are doing their part to help in the collection campaign of BIR. Certainly the information campaign being led by Commissioner Parayno will make them more informed and will make them more aware of their responsibilities and obligations as taxpayers," he said.

Meanwhile, Parayno noted that over a five-year period, a survey by the Social Weather Stations showed the level of corruption in the collection of income taxes had gone down.

"The (number of) respondents who said there is corruption has gone down significantly and this is one of the two bright spots that they said they found in their survey. From 2000, about 50 percent are saying there is corruption going on in the collection of income tax. It is down now to 30 percent," he said.

Parayno believes the result of the survey "is something that should be made known to the public. That while there are still a lot of people who see the level of corruption in BIR to be high — in general about nine percent — if you look at the total picture, there has been a big improvement."

He said the recent survey shows a significant change in the public perception of how well the BIR is doing its job.