SPECIAL LANE PROPOSAL: BIR can make it into a policy

The proposal of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines to create a special lane that will grant “good” taxpayers certain benefits can be made into a policy that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) districts can adopt.

Philip Tan, past president of the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), said that adopting this policy would also make the BIR accountable in implementing it.

Tan, however, said that companies would not have to deal with the long processes if they would just comply with the requirements.

“My experience with BIR, that as long as you’re compliant, they have profiled certain companies being given priority in settlement of their tax obligations,” he said.

He said that BIR examiners have set a quota for themselves and they wouldn’t want to be held up in the processes as well.

Tan said BIR had improved its performance since former BIR Commissioner Kim Henares’ time.

The proposal to create a blue lane was not realized when it was last discussed during the Aquino administration.

It was again raised during a recent discussion with current BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay, who reportedly expressed interest in the recommendation.

ECCP proposal

According to a recent Inquirer report, the ECCP called on the government to establish a blue lane that would grant compliant taxpayers advantages such as faster processing time and streamlined procedures when paying their obligations.

The report said that this would encourage companies in the Philippines to commit to clean and ethical ways of doing business and paying the right taxes.

Melanie Ng, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president, said her organization were advocates of streamlining and regionalization of various government permits (See related story on page 20) to support ease of doing business.

“As such, granting benefits for easier processing and faster time involved to responsible taxpayers would be highly appreciated by the business community,” she said in a text message.

BIR 13 reaction

But lawyer Neri Yu, BIR Central Visayas (BIR 13) legal division chief, said they would just heed orders from the central office.

He said that all taxpayers of BIR 13 had been treated equally in terms of processing.

“It’s three days if they have complete documents. The benefit they get in income tax returns audit is when they pay more than 25 percent from last year, they will be least prioritized,” he said.

He said all bad taxpayers who, upon audit, would be found to have filed deficient taxes would likewise be penalized.