Source: www.bworldonline.com
THE BUREAU of Internal Revenue (BIR) has ordered its revenue district offices (RDOs) nationwide anew to check if businesses in tiangges, or flea markets, are registered with the agency and issue official receipts, a memorandum posted on the bureau’s Web site said.
This, in turn, will enable the bureau to track their sales to determine if correct taxes have been paid.
"In line with the continuing campaign for the issuance of receipts...leading towards the payment of correct taxes...[RDOs] are hereby directed to include among your high priority activities starting this month the conduct of Tax Compliance Verification Drive (TCVD)," Memorandum No. 11-01-001 read.
"Concentration [should be] on establishments operating as tiangges or flea markets, bazaars and similar establishments," the memorandum, dated Jan. 13, added.
It said target establishments will include "but will not be limited" to establishments at the 168 Mall and Tutuban Mall in the City of Manila, Green Hills Shopping Center in the City of San Juan, as well as those operating in Baclaran in Parañaque City.
TCVD or tax mapping started in 2003 through Revenue Memorandum Order 31-2003. It involves unannounced, random visits by BIR revenue district teams to business establishments in order to check if they follow regulations in issuing receipts and bookkeeping, among others.
"...Violations shall be dealt with through the remedies available under the law such as, but not limited to the imposition of penalty fees, implementation of the Oplan Kandado program...and/or filing of criminal cases under the RATE (Run After Tax Evaders) program, as may be warranted," the memorandum said.
The Oplan Kandado program padlocks establishments found to have been violating tax laws, while RATE involves the filing of tax evasion cases.
BIR Deputy Commissioner Nelson M. Aspe said in a phone interview over the weekend that tax mapping had "not been given enough attention" by some revenue districts because of "other work that needs to be done."
He did not elaborate, but said the memorandum should make TCVD a "regular monitoring" operation by RDOs, noting that "some business owners that do not have permits" tend to "return" to their stalls when BIR visits cease.
"This is to remind revenue officers that they need to monitor these places (flea markets) more often. This is not a crackdown or a new program. This is a continuing program," Mr. Aspe explained.
The official said most flea market stalls earn a "minimum of P5,000 daily," translating to an annual income of "more than P1.5 million," which is "enough for them to be VAT (value-added tax) registrants" under the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997.
He declined to give estimates as to how much the BIR hopes to earn from the renewed drive, nor when it will begin.
It will be recalled that the BIR conducted in late-2009 the program, called "SanTAX Claus", to check on tiangges during the Christmas holdays.
Sought for comment, Joey Santos, general manager of Ortigas and Co. that operates Green Hills Shopping Center, said the over 1,000 stalls in the flea market here are "complete with all permits to operate."
"We have no problem with it (tax mapping). They (BIR) already did that before and we already complied. All our stores have permits," Mr. Santos said by phone.
Officials from Tutuban Mall and 168 Mall in Divisoria could not be reached for comment.
BIR, which accounts for about 70% of tax revenues, has already admitted it would fail to meet its P860.4-billion target last year, with an agency official having said that the bureau fell short of its P73.78-billion December goal by "more than P1 billion." This, in turn, brought BIR’s total collections last year to around P826 billion. Final December and 2010 figures are scheduled to be released today.
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