BIR to reshuffle district officers before yearend

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will enforce another reshuffle before the end of the year, in line with efforts to raise revenues and enhance tax administration. "The reorganization of the BIR will continue. We have made the first. We are going to have another before the year ends. We will be issuing another set of transfer orders involving revenue district officers and their assistants," BIR Commissioner Joel L. Tan-Torres told a press briefing on Tuesday. "It is still part of the efforts to improve administration. The performers will be given more responsible positions, while the underperformers will be given less sensitive positions," he added. Tan-Torres said the personnel movement would involve more than 50 revenue district officers and their assistants who are based outside Metro Manila. He said the bureau was still preparing a five-page order on the reshuffle that will take effect next year. The tax chief said key performance indicators remained the basis for the reassignments. These include collection performance, the number of tax delinquent establishments closed and tax campaigns for taxpayers and accountants, linkages with local governments and other sources of third party tax information, and results of a taxpayers’ satisfaction survey. The reshuffle before yearend will be the second under Tan-Torres’ administration. Early this month, he issued travel orders that reassigned 57 revenue personnel with ranks of assistant commissioner, regional director, assistant regional director, and revenue district officer. Tan-Torres has said the reassignments would help generate fresh ideas and prevent revenue personnel from being complacent. The travel orders also resulted in the reorganization of the large taxpayers service, which collects about 70 percent of the bureau’s revenues. Tan-Torres has assigned two assistant commissioners from one to the large taxpayers group, or firms with a net worth of at least P300 million. The four audit groups have also been doubled. The BIR missed its P810-billion target last year, collecting only P778 billion. The tax bureau is required to collect P798.5 billion this year, and P875.1 billion next year. Tax officials have admitted that this year’s goal would be missed due to various tax cuts and a slower economy. The government has also lowered the bureau's goal next year. As of November, the tax bureau collected P681.9 billion, down from P721.6 billion a year earlier. The shortfall climbed to P56.5 billion during the period.