The Department of Finance (DOF) sees a transition to purely-online transactions for the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) as direct result of the lingering COVID-19 pandemic.
ANTICIPATING the changes on financial and spending habits of Filipinos because of the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is looking at the possibility of instituting online income tax filing and digital payment systems.
The reforms could actually benefit taxpayers as this will mean no more long lines and long hours of waiting at BIR offices to pay their dues.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said this is due to the sudden rise of electronic transactions handled by the BIR, mostly due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“In 2020, 85 percent or P1.66 trillion of the total collections of the [Bureau of Internal Revenue] were coursed through electronic channels…Meanwhile, almost a hundred percent of the tax returns filed last year were done online,” Dominguez said.
He added that online tax filing and payments were “projected to dramatically increase in the coming years as the BIR accelerates its digital transformation.”
Dominguez was referring to the BIR’s ongoing digital transformation program, under which the country’s biggest tax-collection agency aimed to shift from “tedious” manual processes into fully digitized and digitalized services by 2030, it said on its website.
The BIR eyes a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week services to taxpayers through online systems and mobile application.
However, Dominguez noted that for now, there are still individuals and companies who “will still want to file returns the traditional way.”
He added that the online systems could help the BIR boost its revenue collection as well as curb tax evasion. (JV)
Tags: #TaxesPH, #BureauOfInternalRevenue, #DepartmentOfFinance, #COVID19