Taxpayers urged to settle arrears under BIR program

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Saturday enjoined delinquent taxpayers to settle their unpaid 2018 dues through voluntary assessment in lieu of audit.

Revenue Regulations No. 21-2020 signed by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar Dulay said the voluntary assessment and payment program (VAPP) was aimed at collecting additional tax revenues “which could otherwise be collected through audit and enforcement effort.”

RR 21-2020 said that amid social distancing restrictions, the country’s biggest tax collection agency wanted to “[reduce] the number of audit investigations by encouraging an increase in voluntary tax compliance.”

“The tax-paying public is hereby granted the opportunity to help defray the increased expenditures of the government during this pandemic through voluntary payment of additional tax under the VAPP for the covered period, with or without an audit/investigation, and be entitled to the privilege under these regulations,” RR 21-2020 read.

Specifically, the VAPP will cover “all internal revenue taxes covering the taxable year ending Dec. 31, 2018, and fiscal year 2018 ending on the last day of the months of July 2018 to June 2019, including taxes on onetime transactions (Onett) such as estate tax, donor’s tax, capital gains tax, as well as Onett-related creditable withholding tax/expanded withholding tax and documentary stamp tax,” the BIR said.

“Any person, natural or juridical, including estates and trusts, liable to pay internal revenue taxes for the above specified period/s who, due to inadvertence or otherwise, erroneously paid his/its internal revenue tax liabilities or failed to file tax returns/pay taxes, may avail of the benefits under these regulations,” the BIR added.

However, the BIR said erring taxpayers who had been issued a final assessment notice, those currently under investigation, those slapped with tax fraud cases pending in the courts or the Department of Justice, as well as those with pending tax evasion cases could not avail of the VAPP.