BIR moves to persuade informal entrepreneurs to rear their heads

IF luring the informal sector entrepreneurs and workers to join the formal economy will add up to P100 billion to government revenues annually, why doesn’t the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) do something about it?

A BIR official told The Manila Times the agency is in fact now working out a program to convince the informal sector business enterprises to enter the tax system, not necessarily to be taxed if they do not have enough profits and income to be in the taxable brackets but just to be formally known to be in existence.

Atty. Elenita Quimosing, chief of staff of the BIR Operations Group, said the bureau is now considering the establishment of a Micro Taxpayer Office, which is a service for micro and small business entities similar to the existing Large Taxpayer Service (LTS).

Large taxpayers come from the banking and finance, real estate and trading, mining, food manufacturing, telecommunications and insurance sectors.

“Pinag-aaralan pa namin yung program [we are still studying the program], para yung revenue [so that] regional district officers would concentrate more on smaller businesses,” Quimosing said.

She disclosed, however, that the BIR has no program yet to really convince the “underground sector” in registering with the agency.

“Ang ginagawa namin [what we are doing is the] tax verification drive, nag-ma-mapping kami [we are mapping]. Ang akala noong iba pag-nag-register sila automatic magbabayad sila ng buwis [Some think once they are registered, they automatically have to pay taxes]. No, hindi ganon yun [it’s not like that],” she stressed.

Quimosing added that the BIR is closely working with the local governments in drafting a project to simplify the forms and processes of getting a business permit.

“Maraming think tank sa amin ang nag-iisip [Many of our think tank people are figuring out] how to make it easier even for the small taxpayers and even those who will not be taxed to enter the system,” she said.

Atty. Quimosing also noted that all business enterprises, even the small sari-sari store, turo-turo and backyard piggery, are required to register with the BIR, but she stressed that registering does not mean an enterprise is subject to taxation.

“If you’re a marginal income earner you might be subject to income tax but not necessarily to business tax. So it really depends on what type of taxpayer an enterprise is. But, yes, they are required to register,” Quimosing explained. –Lailany P. Gomez Reporter, Manila Times