Don’t forget receipts, BIR reminds docs, lawyers

BIR Commissioner Kim Henares: Reminder AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Thursday reminded doctors and lawyers to issue receipts to their patients and clients even if the Supreme Court had issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the tax agency’s new regulations governing the income of self-employed professionals.

“Where we were before the issuance of the TRO was that the issuance of receipts was a nondisputable thing—that’s in the Tax Code. I would like to disabuse the minds of the doctors [and lawyers] who might think that the TRO means they no longer have to issue receipts,” BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a TRO on the BIR regulations upon the petition of the Philippine College of Physicians, the umbrella group of internal medicine doctors in the country. Last April, the high tribunal issued a TRO on the same measure, after the Integrated Bar of the Philippines questioned its validity.

Henares said the subject of the TRO was the provisions in the BIR regulation requiring professionals to register their appointment books and submit affidavits indicating their rates.

The revenue chief said the agency had also made a concession regarding the lawyers and doctors who said that they rendered pro bono or free services.

“For those who say they’re pro bono, we reply: Issue a receipt and then just deduct. If you’re pro bono, deduct 100 percent, so [the fee reflected on the receipt will be] zero. You still have to issue a receipt and if you do pro bono work you have to execute an affidavit per case and maintain your cash journal book,” she said.

Henares said the BIR would become “more intrusive” in ensuring that lawyers and doctors complied with the law, adding that the agency would also intensify its surveillance and tax-mapping.

“Under the New Internal Revenue Code, we are authorized to conduct surveillance. We want people to go on with their lives and businesses [but] we just want to make sure everyone is in compliance. Now that the difficulty in making sure people comply has increased, we will have surveillance [operations],” she said.

“We will do a lot of tax-mapping [which] means we can assign people, for a period of time, to be in the clinics, sit beside the cashiers and receptionists, to make sure that every time somebody pays they issue a receipt, every time somebody goes in and they do not pay, they should execute an affidavit,” she said.