Published on 21 August 2012 [ manilatimes.net ]
Written by Raffy Ayeng, Reporter
TO further improve tax collection, the
Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will hire 4,000 more personnel to be deployed
in the field, particularly certified public accountants, collection officers
and lawyers.
According to BIR Commissioner Kim
Jacinto-Henares, the additional workforce will be detailed in mobile offices
such as mall kiosks nationwide.
The new personnel will increase the
BIR workforce of 12,000 to 16,000.
“We need to hire more people because
other than the fact that some employees die, retire and resign, we also have to
keep up with the demand brought about by the large and increasing number of
taxpayers all over the country,” Henares said.
The bureau is strengthening its Run
After the Tax Evaders Program. Given personnel constraints, the agency had
focused on “big” tax evaders.
“Of course there are many people that
we are running after. It’s just a matter of timing, and prioritizing the big
ones. We are only few at the BIR, as compared to the number of taxpayers,”
Henares said.
“We have a lot of programs on the
table especially in the areas of enforcement, monitoring as well as making
payment of taxes easier for the people. In order to either continually compel
or encourage them to pay their respective taxes in good faith we have to hire
more people to sustain our goals,” she added.
Reymarie de la Cruz, head of the
bureau’s tax information and education division, said that the number of
registered individual taxpayers as of last year was 18,957,477, compensation
income earners numbered 10,254,400 and professional taxpayers, 1,821,599. There
were 615,734 corporate taxpayers, and various taxpayers numbering 6.26 million,
including estates and trusts; marginal income earners or those who are earning
less than P100,000 a year; and those with one-time transactions.
The BIR chief said that the bureau had
asked the Department of Budget and Management to allot funding for new hires.
“This will not be a one-time process. This
will be a continuing process, since the applicants have to take a series of
examinations including psychological test. Then if they passed, interview will
follow through, and then we will come back to them and inform them whether
there are available positions waiting for them,” she said.
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