BIR places 5 Davao City firms under watch list

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Region 11 office has placed five business firms in Davao City under "undercover" surveillance for serious misdeclaration of income. Online news site Mindanao Daily Mirror (www.dailymirror.ph) reported that BIR 11 regional director Nestor Valeroso said this at a forum in Davao City but declined to name the firms. He said this came in the light of the implementation of Oplan Kandado launched by BIR to curb establishments from understating their earnings to evade taxes. Establishments subject to Oplan Kandado are those found understating their income by 30 percent and higher. Under Oplan Kandado, high-risk establishments or those described by Valeroso as "non compliant taxpayers" are placed under 10-day surveillance. These firms will be served with notice of violation and given five days to act. Failure to act within five days subjects the establishments to closure, Valeroso said. Valeroso said BIR will maximize Oplan Kandado to recover from the significant drop in collection last year due to the implementation of R.A. 9504 exempting minimum wage earners from paying income tax. Valeroso said minimum wage earners in Region 11 are estimated to reach 258,000. He said 60 percent of BIR's total collection comes from income tax. Valeroso said BIR 11, which includes the cities of Davao and Tagum and the provinces of Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte, and Davao Oriental, failed to meet its tax collection target of P8.040 billion last year upon the effectivity of R.A. 9504. He said BIR 11 only collected about P7 billion in taxes last year. The amount of collection is about 15 percent below the tax collection in 2007. Because of this, BIR is embarking on a "biz marking strategy" beginning this year aimed at maximizing business tax collection. The scheme starts with the profiling of business establishments to determine the business tax they should pay government. Establishments found understating their income by 30 percent and above are placed under Oplan Kandado. Valeroso said non-compliant taxpayers are found in almost all industries in Region 11. - GMANews.TV Eyeing a one-percent goal of contribution to the national revenue collection, BIR 11 is looking at P8.56 billion as the target collection which will be given to it this year by the BIR central office, Valeroso said. - GMANews.TV