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In our present era, the BIR is likewise continuing to go digital to cope with the changing times. For one, at the beginning of this year, the Calendar Year 2022 BIR Priority Programs and Projects included the Digital Economy Policy. Under this project, the BIR intends to align tax rules and regulations to capture the digital economy. Included also in the said priorities of the BIR were the re-architecture and development of the filing system/facility, and the enhancement of the quality of tax administration and the delivery of taxpayer services through a Taxpayer Registration Database Management System, among others.

Due to health concerns posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, schools were prohibited from conducting face-to-face classes and subsequently shifted to other means such as online classes or modular distance learning. Early this year, the Department of Education (DepEd) commenced the progressive expansion phase, where selected public and private schools were allowed to conduct limited face-to-face classes. Considering that the number of recent daily cases significantly decreased compared with those recorded during the previous years, the authorities are now eyeing the resumption of full face-to-face classes for the upcoming School Year 2022-23.

Four hundred and twenty-five days after the effectivity of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act or Republic Act (RA) No. 11534 on April 11, 2021, one question still lingers among the registered business enterprises (RBEs) from the country’s nineteen Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs): How can RBEs maximize their fiscal and non-fiscal incentives under the new tax rules and evolving market environment?

According to recent news reports, the inflation rate for May 2022 is at 5.4%, the highest recorded inflation rate since December 2018. To boot, last month, there were also talks about the possibility of postponing the individual income tax cuts supposedly scheduled starting 2023 as provided under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act. These scenarios would certainly trigger taxpayers into thinking about these events’ consequent impact to them. Definitely, these taxpayers include the millions of employees in the Philippines who may be worried about their take home pay vis-à-vis the rising prices of goods and services.

Cambridge Dictionary defines a “task force” as a group of people brought together to do a particular job. The term may be familiar relative to the Covid-19 pandemic when the government created the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) composed of members from various executive departments, supposedly for a collaborative approach to combating Covid-19.

Have you been audited by the BIR and your claimed expense was disallowed for improper or inadequate substantiation? Have you applied for a tax refund, and were denied due to an erroneous invoice or receipt? This is not unusual given the state of our tax documentation and compliance. With the advent of the government requirement to use electronic receipts and invoices, we can only hope that these long-running challenges become a thing of the past.

On May 10, 2022, the SC released its decision promulgated on 01 December 2021 on the petition for certiorari of the Department of Finance (DOF) and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) seeking for annulment of an order of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 57 in Makati City that declared Revenue Regulations No. 4-2011 null and void.

In previous years, we have seen an evolution of the Philippine tax landscape under different administrations. The National internal Revenue Code or the Tax Reform Act of 1997 superseded the 1977 Tax Code. Electronic filings have also been introduced, including the Electronic Filing and Payment System (eFPS), eBIRForms System, and electronic certificate authorizing registration (eCAR), among others. We currently have this thrust on streamlining the processes and requirements of the BIR’s registration processes and other taxpayer transactions with the BIR. There are also significant tax reform laws which have been passed -- the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law and the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act, among others.