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IT’S
that time of the year when all accountants and auditors
are working hard to compute and arrange the payments and
file their respective company’s taxes, hopefully the
correct and proper way.
The
Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) offers some helpful
tips that will matter in the conduct of company tax
filings, leading to the April 15 submission and
tax-payment deadline.
Since
there are a lot of BIR circulars and issuances made
during the previous years, the agency, according to
Deputy Commissioner Nelson Aspe, hopes to remind all
practitioners of some of the important policies that
were made which tax filers and practitioners should
follow.
For
instance, in 2002 the BIR issued a regulation for
substituted filing of income-tax returns of employees
receiving income from one employer. This regulation is
hoped to reduce queues since not all income earners are
still required to go to the BIR and file their returns.
That task, however, was placed in the hands of their
employers, who should do all the necessary measures
prior to the filing, such as giving the BIR in diskette
form a list of all the company’s employees.
Aspe
also invites attention to the accreditation of tax
practitioners or agents, or those who are engaged in the
regular preparation, certification, audit and filing of
tax returns. These practitioners should be certified by
the BIR’s accreditation board.
This
regulation is important, he explained, noting past cases
where companies employed the services of the auditors
only on a day prior to the deadline of the filing, a
clear violation of BIR rules.
As in
the past, the April 15 deadline of filing will not be
extended. But the BIR looks to easing the burden by
setting up hundreds of BIR Tulungan Centers, some of
them inside shopping malls all over the country, to help
tax filers. Some centers will be open on Saturdays or
until the mall closes, and can accept returns and take
queries on every aspect of the filing.
Meanwhile, BIR also has a contact center, (02) 981-8888,
that can accept as many as 30 calls at the same time on
all questions on BIR issuances and policies, among
others.
Some
banks are extending the hours of accepting payments, and
some, like the Development Bank of the
Philippines,
are willing to open their services even on holidays,
such as on April 7, and on weekends.
But
since these are private entities, BIR has no control
over the operations of the banks and all of the help and
services that they are extending are on voluntary
basis.
Many of
the banks, however, are still assigning only one teller
to accept payments, which is critical since long queues
are expected in the banks, especially when a large firm
can file hundreds of pages that all need to be stamped.
In view
of this, Aspe enjoined the public to file their returns
earlier than the April 15 deadline, especially those
firms or entities that will not pay anything. These
companies should do the filing earlier in order to give
way to the other firms that will have to compute their
payment. |
