By Elaine R. Alanguilan
Source: www.manilastandardtoday.com
INTERNAL Revenue plans to expand its coverage of the large taxpayers to collect about P610 billion from this segment out of its P940-billion tax collection target next year.
Commissioner Kim Henares said the move was meant to boost the agency’s collection and to make the tax bureau at par with its counterparts abroad.
“It is the best practice all over the world to put all large taxpayers in one unit so you can monitor them and provide them the service that they need,” Henares told the Manila Standard.
The large taxpayers include the top 1,000 corporations, but it wasn’t clear what criteria Internal Revenue will use to add to the roster.
The agency considers a taxpayer large if it complies with the following criteria:
• It has a net value-added tax or payable of at least P200,000 per quarter for the preceding year
• It has an annual income, excise, withholding and documentary stamp taxes paid or payable of at least P1 million for the preceding year
• It has P200,000 in percentage taxes paid or payable per quarter for the preceding year
• Its gross sales or receipts for the preceding year should have been at least P1 billion
• Its total net worth should be at least P800 million at the close of each calendar or fiscal year
• Its total annual gross purchases for the preceding year should have been at least P800 million
• It should be among the top corporate taxpayers as listed and published by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Henares said compliance from the large taxpayers had not been a problem, but they had more sophisticated needs and administering to them was more complicated compared with the individual taxpayers.
The large taxpayers are subject to stricter monitoring, compelled to bear the heavier burden of reporting, given greater responsibility as withholding agents, and used to pilot-test certain systems development.
Internal Revenue collects over 60 percent of its taxes each year from the large taxpayers, which totaled 1,376 in 2009. This segment paid P439 billion in taxes last year.
Henares said her agency’s evaluation of the large taxpayer segment was ongoing, and that they would only know how many more taxpayers would qualify to join it next year. The large taxpayers include the top 1,000 corporations in the country.
“It depends on the number of people that we can get to man the large taxpayer system,” Henares said.
“We have 300 personnel in the agency that takes care of the large taxpayers, and we want to expand it further. However, this is a function of the budget that we get each year from the national government.
“We’re always making sure that the people manning the large taxpayer service are better trained than usual, and are equipped to handle the needs of those among the country’s largest taxpayers.”
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