More taxpayers filing ITRs electronically – BIR

Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2019 16:29:43 +0000

More taxpayers have switched filing their income tax returns (ITRs) by electronic means, a senior Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) official said as the agency marked the annual April 15 deadline.

BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa

“Based on our data, most of our taxpayers now are availing of the e-filing or online filing for convenience,” BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa said in a press conference on Monday.

Filing using Electronic BIR Forms has been mandatory since 2014 for all tax returns.

“In terms of the totality of the whole taxpayers for the BIR, we estimated those who filed only comprise 30-40 percent,” Guballa noted.

He did not provide further details but Deputy Commissioner Marissa Cabreros has said that individual taxpayers registered reached 19.2 million in 2018 alone.

Cabreros earlier told The Manila Times that the BIR was hopeful of exceeding its P232.6-billion take in April last year, which was 24 percent or P44.9 billion better compared to a year earlier.

“We are hopeful for increased collection because more are complying as filing had been simplified because of Train,” she said, referring to the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law that took effect last year.

Salaried employees and other individuals were given personal income tax exemptions for the first P250,000 in taxable income and significant tax cuts for those earning above P250,000 under the new law.

The perks, Cabreros claimed, are expected to prompt more taxpayers to file their ITrs.

The BIR, which has a P2.339-trillion collection target for this year, has rolled out options and facilities to enable taxpayers to transact by electronic means.

“We should try to hit that figure as much as possible … Hopefully we should go above P2 trillion this 2019,” BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay said.

The bureau missed its P2.044-trillion collection goal last year, only netting P1.961 trillion despite higher sales taxes implemented under the Train law.

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