Changing its image through hard work

The foremost revenue-collecting arm of our government held its 117th anniversary recently amidst an uncertain, challenging, yet very productive period in its history.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue received praises from our economic managers after surpassing its tax collection target and generating a record P1.034 trillion from January to June this year despite the unprecedented challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic to the economy.

Earlier, the BIR said it was expecting higher excise tax revenues this year. It will be recalled that excise tax collections last year dropped by seven percent due to strict lockdown measures and the economic slowdown. Excise taxes make up 16 percent of BIR’s total collection target this year. Collections from value-added and percentage tax collections were also raised this year as economic activities started picking up.

Last year, the agency was able to collect P1.956 trillion for the whole of 2020, way over its target of P1.685 trillion, in spite of the adverse economic impact of the pandemic and the contraction of the gross domestic product by about 10 percent last year. The total of P1.9 trillion collected was about 11 percent less than the actual collection pre-pandemic or in 2019, but as noted by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, this was understandable considering the economic condition.

About 86 percent of last year’s collection was done through electronic payment channels after the pandemic shut down many face-to-face modes. Taxes collected from the PayMaya mobile application reached P4.98 billion. Other accredited electronic payment platforms of the BIR include the GCash e-wallet app, Landbank’s e-payment portal Linkbiz, the PayTax service of the Development Bank of the Philippines, UnionBank’s online app, and PesoNet.

Meanwhile, around 94 percent of the 22.86 million tax returns filed in 2020 were submitted online and only six percent were filed manually.

During the anniversary rites held via Zoom and his last BIR anniversary message as commissioner, Dulay thanked everyone for keeping him company and for doing a great job in helping the agency exceed its targets for the past 18 months.

He reminded everyone of the importance of making the taxpayers as partners in this journey, that they be served well and treated with respect, and that the BIR is here to serve the taxpayers and not to be served.

Dulay said the BIR staff was able to do its task with an attitude of humility, and the taxpayers were able to meet with collectors who worked with the highest degree of professionalism, noting that based on feedback, taxpayers felt more comfortable, and  could rely on the BIR, and saw the change in terms of relating with them.

The BIR chief stressed that all this was done with integrity and as the agency continues to work on changing its public image from being a corrupt institution to being an institution of service.

Dulay believes they have minimized the wrong perception and emphasized that they would continue to work on changing it and achieving their vision for BIR to become an institution of excellent service, competence, and integrity.

President Duterte signed into law the P4.506 trillion national budget for 2021 which was aimed to strengthen government efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and to support initiatives for national economic recovery. The Finance department had set the tax collection goal of BIR at P2.08 trillion this year.

For this year, the BIR said it has continued to register good collection performance owing mostly to the pre-pandemic digitalization program.

In a message during the celebration, Dominguez commended the agency for embarking on a comprehensive digitalization program ahead of the pandemic, enabling the agency to continue functioning effectively during the lockdowns and collect almost all income taxes through electronic means.

He said that the BIR’s victory means a secure fiscal future for the country and better economic outcomes for the Filipino people.

The Finance chief also called on the BIR to ‘go for the gold,’ just like Filipino gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz in the Tokyo Olympics, by surpassing its tax collection target of P2.08 trillion for this year and beyond.

Meanwhile, San Miguel Corp. president and CEO Ramon Ang, in a recorded message played during the program, said that the remarkable BIR performance has earned praises not only from the Finance secretary, but also from the private sector, noting that the bureau’s topnotch service to the taxpayers is one of the reasons for its record-breaking collection.

For his part, Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce Inc. president Henry Lim Bon Liong also expressed his appreciation to the bureau’s performance, saying it was almost a given that the BIR would miss its target because of the pandemic as the economy was badly affected due to the pandemic. In spite of the setback, the BIR has consistently hit its targets. He also cited the innovative programs of the BIR which are being executed well from top to bottom.

Joining the well-wishers from the private sector was MVP Group of Companies bureau director, Michael Toledo, who said that the BIR was ready for the pandemic and that its digitalization proved to be a game changer and more importantly, the bureau was able to execute and see through its program.

Toledo emphasized that this is why even during the pandemic, it was an easy transition for both the taxpayers and the BIR.

But in addition to improved customer service, streamlined processes, and open communication now being offered by the BIR, as mentioned by marketing professional Generelie Pili of Toyota Pasong Tamo during the anniversary program, the BIR has also intensified its enforcement activities to improve tax compliance.

In fact, last year, under the Oplan Kandado program, 209 establishments were padlocked for tax law violations, while its Run After Tax Evaders or RATE program led to the filing of 157 cases with the Department of Justice and another 24 with the Court of Tax Appeals. BIR is also rolling out this year its Enhanced Internal Revenue Stamp Integrated System to step up its campaign against cigarette smuggling.

BIR also has its online registration and update system, which is a web-based system that will provide an end-to-end process for registration and updating of taxpayer registration information that is due for implementation this year.

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