INTERNAL Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares has given instructions that requests for the conversion to cash of tax-credit certificates (TCCs) should be processed, approved and the corresponding check released within 75 days.
Henares issued Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) 38-2014, setting the policies and guidelines in the implementation of cash disbursements of tax refunds and cash conversion of TCCs through a “trust receipts fund” created for the purpose.
RMO 38-2014 sets a deadline of 75 days within which a request for TCC cash conversion should have already been processed, approved and the corresponding check released within 75 days from the receipt of the request by the Miscellaneous Operations Monitoring Division from a valid TCC holder.
In cases of Notices of Payment Schedule (NPS), the check should be released within 75 days from the date of receipt by the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) Finance Service of the request for redemption from a valid NPS holder.
In cases of claims for tax refund other than NPS or TCC cash conversion, the check should have already been released within 75 days from the date of the receipt of the complete documents by the Finance Service, or the regional Finance Division, as the case may be, from the concerned recommending revenue offices.
However, taxpayers requesting for refunds or cash conversion would still have to be free of any delinquent tax liabilities before their application for conversion shall be processed.
“All outstanding delinquent-tax liabilities shall be fully settled by the concerned taxpayer before the approval of the taxpayer’s claim for tax refund. However, outstanding delinquent-tax liabilities of the concerned taxpayers, whose claims for tax refund are already pending in the concerned revenue offices, including the regional finance divisions responsible for the processing of payment thereof, shall first be determined and deducted, if any, from the claim, before the processing of the same shall proceed,” the memorandum said.
Earlier this year, President Aquino issued Executive Order (EO) 68-A, instructing the Department of Finance to give all qualified VAT-registered taxpayers the full cash value of their outstanding VAT TCCs issued as of December 31, 2012. The program that provides for the monetization of these VAT TCCs should be fully implemented not later than June 30, 2016, according to EO 68-A.