DOF putting up tax academy in VisMin

The Department of Finance (DOF) is putting up regional branches of the Philippine Tax Academy (PTA) to provide revenue personnel in the provinces more training.

Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said the DOF will open campuses of the PTA in the Visayas and Mindanao region, with the main site to be located in Cagayan de Oro in Region 10.

This was following a request made by the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) to renovate its Northern Mindanao regional office in Cagayan de Oro City into a PTA Center.

“This planned PTA Training Center will provide provincial employees of the BLGF, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs (BOC) continuing professional education and training on improving tax collection competence and efficiency,” Beltran said.

He said the BLGF has requested a budget of P33 million to build the PTA Campus and offices in the bureau’s 1,064 square meter property in Cagayan de Oro City.

Furthermore, Beltran said the BLGF would also start offering soon PTA training courses to local treasurers assigned in the Bicol Region.

The first branches of the planned Philippine Tax Academy would be established at the University of Makati (UMak) and University of the Philippines (UP) by January next year.

The DOF said UMak was chosen as the main campus of the PTA, while the UP College of Economics would offer Executive Program certificate courses to interested DOF employees.

Meanwhile, Beltran said the Senate has also expressed interest in the PTA, and has ordered the Senate Tax Study and Research Office to submit a program for the training of the employees and technical staff of senators handling tax matters.