Revamping tax system in the Philippines

An interview with Kim Jacinto Henares, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Deputy Commissioner and Lilia C. Guillermo, Deputy Commissioner, Information System Group even as the Philippines tax department looks at moving all its business online. BIR is looking to update its registration database and streamline the procedure for citizens to get their Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), a number given to each taxpayer in the Philippines. BIR wants to make the process of applying as well as receiving the TIN electronic, thus saving citizens’ time, says Henares. In a bid to identity fraud, BIR is also planning to create a database of biometric identities of all taxpayers by procuring such information from other government agencies that already have such databases. Henares has given herself until December 2013 to implement these major reforms. BIR’s database of taxpayers is not clean and Guillermo is, therefore, working on the re-registration of taxpayers for issuing TINs. BIR started e-registration in May this year to curb the practice of registering fake identities. The new system allows taxpayers to update their information. Guillermo says some don’t update information to save their unscrupulous business as it is difficult to track fraud if the data itself is not accurate. BIR has, therefore, started matching the declarations with third party information to make sure the figures tally. BIR has connected 20 regional offices and 124 district offices to one central database. It is also planning to use geographic information systems (GIS) to map business areas. Guillermo said the re-registration drive is one of its kind and has no model to emulate.

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