MANILA, Philippines—Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares said on Friday that the Annual Information Return (AIR), that would be required of taxpayers making more than P500,000 a year was in no way similar to the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (Saln) filed by all government employees.
“It is not correct to say that this is a statement of assets and liabilities. There is no such proposal even. Nowhere in the form are we asking for a listing of (your) assets. There is nowhere in the form where are we asking for a listing of your liabilities. So it is not a Saln,” Henares said in a press conference at the Department of Justice (DoJ) where she had just filed complaints for tax evasion against former military comptrollers Carlos Garcia and Jacinto Ligot.
Of the 4 million taxpayers in the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s database, Henares said only 54,890 would be required to file AIRs.
“Can you see the difference? It means only 54,890 people have a taxable income of more than P500,00,” she said.
Henares said those taxpayers would be required to list income that was not included in their income tax return (ITR).
“List only the income you did not include in your ITR because it was subject to a final tax or exempted. That’s all the AIR is asking. There’ll be no additional taxes to be paid. Just list it,” Henares said in Filipino.
Moreover, she said, taxpayers would be listing down information “that has already been given to us.”
“The banks withhold taxes, they remit taxes, so these are data that is somewhere in our database. Corporations when they declare dividends, they withhold taxes. What we are only asking is that you put it in your own form, rather than in someone else’s form,” she said.
Henares said the AIR would also help a taxpayer “realize how much in taxes (he) has paid.”
“In that sense you will know how much you contributed to nation building. So that you know [you] paid so much in taxes, this government should really be answerable to [you] for this much. And the other thing is if you get the discipline of recording your income, you will realize there is income that you did not report,” she said.
After making the AIR optional this year following a huge outcry, the BIR said its filing would be mandatory next year.
A penalty of P10,000 to P25,000 would be imposed on those who fail to submit their AIR, Henares said.
But for Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, a total recall of the regulation was the BIR’s only recourse.
In an interview with the Inquirer, Rodriguez said he would write Henares and ask her to recall Revenue Regulation No 2-2011, issued on March 1, as it would require amendments to certain laws which only Congress can make.
“I’m calling for the recall of the AIR because it is unconstitutional and illegal today, so how can it be legal and constitutional next year?” Rodriguez said.
He said the AIR did not only violate a person’s right to privacy but violated bank secrecy laws because it would require individuals to reveal their banks and their interest income, which only the courts can order.
Rodriguez said the regulation would also discourage foreign investors because it would require them to give the same information.
He said the AIR should only be required of those who don’t file ITRs.