CAUAYAN CITY, Isabela—Faced with a P1.829-trillion collection goal, the Bureau of Internal Revenue vowed to pursue reforms to improve its efficiency in gathering taxes, Commissioner Cesar Dulay said.
The BIR chief came to the city to grace their 2017 Tax Campaign Kick-Off for the Cagayan Valley region at the Catholic Pastoral Center here.
“There is optimism in reaching our goal because of the present administration’s priority program on massive infrastructure development in partnership with China, Russia and Japan, among others,” Dulay said.
He said these ties with other countries will result in the entry of Overseas Development Assistance and investments in the country’s various economic sectors.
“These are the kind of spending that the government wants because there is movement in the economy. Even savings should be spent for the economy,” Dulay said.
The commissioner also said the BIR has adopted a strategic road map to improve their collection efficiency, such as ensuring the ease in doing business with the agency to encourage more taxpayers to comply with regulations.
Dulay said they are also conducting dialogues with other tax practitioners and organizations to draw more suggestions in achieving their collection goals.
He underscored the need for additional workers, since the BIR only has about 10,000 personnel, just half of the 20,000 approved plantilla positions in the agency.
“If we can increase it, we can have more workers to mobilize, that is why we are conducting a massive hiring,” the commissioner said.
Dulay, however, said the BIR has asked for an exemption from the government’s coverage of the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) to attract applicants to the agency.
He said Certified Public Accountants in the agency receive a starting salary of P20,000 to P25,000, while other agencies give them P35,000 to P40,000.
Tax lawyers, Dulay said, also receive P35,000 or higher as their starting BIR salary, while those employed in other agencies are receiving P50,000 to P55,000.
“We need to get out from the SSL and we need a bill to get out, so that we can implement reforms in our organization,” Dulay said.
The commissioner said continuing value formation and technical trainings are being offered for their workers. It also implements the Expanded Compromise Agreement Program to convince and encourage taxpayers to avail of its benefits.
“In this way, they get a tax exemption certificate to continue their businesses. We will also implement our Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) for erring taxpayers,” he said.
Dulay thanked local government units in the country for supporting the agency’s tax campaign programs and activities.
