BIR 13 submits inventory of audit dockets to new chief

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue 13 said that it has complied with the orders of the new tax chief, in light of the suspension of orders issued by former BIR commissioner Kim Henares.

“We already complied. We were ordered to submit inventory of pending audit dockets as of June 30, 2016,” said BIR 13 Legal Chief lawyer Neri Yu, in a text message written in Cebuano.

Caesar R. Dulay, the newly-appointed BIR chief under the Duterte administration, has ordered the tax agency through Memorandum Circular No. 69-2016 to suspend all revenue issuances within June 1 to 30, 2016 “until further notice” and the ongoing audits on taxpayers. (See Tax notes, A20)

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.

Some of the country’s tax managers branded Henares’ orders as “midnight issuances”, which include Revenue Memorandum Order No. 242016, 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 Philip- pines (TMAP) declared that order “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.”

The Duterte administration earlier promised tax reforms and simplification of tax processes.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III has said that the Department of Finance will be submitting to Congress this September a tax reform proposal that includes lowering of income taxes and a review of value-added tax (VAT) exemptions to compensate for foregone revenues.