BIR collection target on track Henares aims for P1-trillion mark

MANILA, Philippines - The winds howled like wild beasts and the skies unleashed a downpour as Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares addressed a crowd of Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) employees, former commissioners and special guests during the agency’s 108th anniversary celebration on Aug. 1.

But Henares did not flinch nor blink, unmindful of the heavy rains. Instead, she continued to enumerate the agency’s accomplishments as wells as plans and programs for 2012.

“Nothing can stop her. Even with the rains, she did not even blink,” said Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima when it was his turn at the podium.

Purisima likes to call Henares the first “trillionaire BIR commissioner” because of the agency’s 2012 revenue goal of P1.06 trillion.

It would be the first time in history that the BIR’s revenue goal has reached the P1-trillion mark.

Henares said the agency is on track to meeting the goal but conceded that the task is not an easy one. “People don’t really see the hard work, what we do behind the scene,” Henares said in her speech during the agency’s anniversary celebration.

It’s a long list of tasks that the agency has been doing.

For one, the BIR is completing the evaluation of its various core processes such as those of registration, filing and payment and audit and collection. She said the reengineering of these processed have been started and is being completed.

“In addition, the BIR is enhancing its Information Taxpayers Systems, built during the 1990s, with the assistance of a grant from the Compact Program of the Millennium Challenge Corp.,” Henares said.

In terms of specific programs, there’s no lack of reform initiatives under Henares’ leadership.

Major programs include Oplan Kandado, the Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) program, Computer Assisted Audit Tools and Techniques, Premyo sa Resibo, Public Awareness Campaign, Tax Rulings and Case Management System, Performance Management System, Performance Governance System, Human Resource Information System and Organization and Management Development Program/Rationalization Plan or Ratplan.

Other new priority programs include the Launch of the Official Registry Book for excise products, the Fuse on Stamp and other excisable products and the Electronic Tax Information Systems Project.

Henares said once institutionalized these reforms would improve tax administration and enhance the trust and confidence in the agency.

She said that hopefully, the day would come that the people would not have to pay more taxes. “We hope to come to a point that we won’t have to pay higher taxes. If everybody pays, we don’t have to pay more, we just have to pay right,” she said.

From the Spanish era to the modern times

The BIR has come a long way since the Spanish Era. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Spanish government collected tributes – in cash or in kind – to support the Spanish colony.

In 1884, the Cedula Personal, in which subjects of the colony were required to pay for their personal identification, replaced the tribute.

However, it was in Aug. 1, 1904, during the American regime when the BIR was formally organized under the term of the Civil Governor Luke Wright. This was done through the passage of the Reorganization Act 1189 dated July 2, 1904.

To date, there have been 35 people who headed the BIR, of whom only two are females – Liwayway Vinzons-Chato who served from 1993 to 1998 and Lilian Hefti who served from 2007 to 2008.

Henares is only the third female commissioner to head the bureau. People close to her say she is among the toughest leaders who have taken the helm of the agency notorious for rampant corruption.

Upon her appointment in 2010, Henares has made it clear that she would reform the bureau in a way that every peso it collects would go to state coffers and not to anybody’s pocket.

It’s no easy feat but Henares has her ways to cope with her stressful job. One of her secrets is that she tries not to bring home to her husband, Dan Henares, the problems in the office. And she takes time to de-stress with Dan on weekends.

Hitting the firing range

She is a known gun enthusiast, just like her boss, President Aquino.

Once, The Star was lucky enough to witness Henares’ skills on the firing range.  The BIR chief, surrounded by security experts who served as her personal trainers, wasted no time in aiming for the bull’s eye.

A diligent student on the firing range, Henares passionately handles her weapon well. She does what she is asked to do by her gun tutors, all fiercely looking men. The session is non-stop, breaking only for water and lunch.

Her favorite firearms include the elegant and pricey STI International .40 caliber pistol.

“It’s also a good way to relax,” Henares said, unmindful of the piercing sound of gunfire.

One of her tutors, Daniel Cruz Jr., a senior security consultant, told The Star that Henares is a fast-learner.

Indeed, in and outside the firing range, Henares walks the talk.

She vows to meet the targets assigned to the bureau or, if circumstances prevent the agency from achieving this goal, to at least significantly increase collections from year-ago levels.

“We’re trying to change 100 plus years of wrong doing,” she said.

Moving forward

Moving forward, Henares said she would strive to see all the major reforms completed by the end of the Aquino administration.

It is for this reason that the no non-sense BIR chief declined the nomination to the chief justice position even as she was among the frontrunners for the 5th most powerful position in the country.

The BIR has already filed at least 111 tax evasion cases at the Department of Justice since the start of the administration of President Aquino. These cases are worth P39.73 billion.

It’s still a long way to go to reforming the bureau but Henares and her team of equally competent men and women at the Large Taxpayers Service and Regional District Offices as well as her deputy commissioners are with her in the battle to raise more money for the Aquino administration.