Neighborhood “sari-sari” or variety stores, barbershops, and other small scale businesses will not be spared by the Bureau of Internal Revenue in its tax collection efforts to raise at least P1.8 trillion before the end of the year.
BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay said he has instructed the 123 revenue district officers nationwide to start listing down these modest enterprises to increase the number of taxpayers for tax collection purposes.
The BIR chief said bringing the tax collection drive to the grassroots level is one of the features of this year’s 27-point priority program to further improve tax enforcement activities and voluntary compliance.
He said the BIR had established the Large Taxpayers Service years ago to handle the audit of conglomerates and other big corporations and it is now but appropriate that regional and district offices intensify their search of both unregistered or “colorum” small and medium trades not registered with the bureau.
Dulay acknowledged that his tax collection program has adopted almost all strategies of his predecessor, Kim S. Jacinto-Henares, like “Oplan: Kandando,” tax mapping, benchmarking, and electronic filing and payment system.
He acknowledged that tax mapping, benchmarking, and several other innovative tax audit schemes were initiated by BIR Deputy Commissioner Nestor S. Valeroso when he was still a district officer in Mindanao and later as regional director in Metro Manila. (Jun Ramirez)