New BIR chief repeals Henares ‘midnight’ orders

THE NEW chief of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Caesar R. Dulay, yesterday repealed all the “midnight issuances” of his predecessor, Kim Jacinto-Henares.

Dulay also ordered the agency to suspend all ongoing audits on taxpayers.

On his first day as BIR Commissioner, Dulay issued Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 69-2016 under which “the effectivity of all revenue issuances issued within the period covering June 1-30, 2016, is hereby suspended until further notice.”

Dulay suspended the implementation of the BIR rules issued last June by the feisty Henares after some tax managers branded them as “midnight issuances.”

Included in the controversial issuances issued by Henares were Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) No. 24-2016, issued on June 8, that mandated an audit or investigation of parties in transactions involving the assignment, sale or transfer of properties.

The Tax Management Association of the Philippines (TMAP) declared two weeks ago that RMO 24-2016 “promotes corruption” as it “gives the BIR examiners wide latitude of discretion in determining what would constitute necessary documents to be submitted, and determine capacity to acquire.”

TMAP also lamented that the RMO would presume taxpayers to have committed fraud, besides being “unreasonable, unfair and unjust” to taxpayers.

To address TMAP’s concerns, Dulay also on Friday issued RMO 38-2016, which revoked RMO 24-2016 and a subsequent amendment under RMO 25-2016.

Dulay also recalled all letters of authority—the official document that empowers revenue officers to examine and scrutinize taxpayers’ books in order to determine their correct tax liabilities.

Dulay ordered an inventory of all outstanding letters of authority, audit notices and letter notices as of June 30, 2016,  which, he said, must be submitted to him before the July 16 deadline.