Professionals lacking in top taxpayer list

PROFESSIONALS were the latest to turn up in the Finance department’s radar as it compared official registry data with the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) list of last year’s biggest individual taxpayers.

“Which professionals are top income taxpayers?,” the department asked in its latest Tax Watch ad where it noted that just a few out of the 3.2 million Filipinos in 50 registered professions were in the BIR rankings.

It did not qualify, however, whether the incomes of the individuals tagged had been made in the practice of their professions.

The department pointed out that only 19 out of the country’s 65,398 registered lawyers were in the taxpayer list, led by former Solicitor General Estelito P. Mendoza who was third for the BIR after having paid P56.59 million.

In second was Felipe L. Gozon, GMA Network, Inc. chairman and CEO, who was 41st in the top taxpayer list with P20.9 million. Following was Ray C. Espinosa, First Pacific Investment Co. Ltd. associate director and also this newspaper’s chairman of the board, who placed 81st with P15.38 million.

Of the 145,209 certified public accountants (CPAs) as of 2012, meanwhile, only eight CPAs were among the top taxpayers. At the head of the list was Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. President and Chief Executive Lorenzo V. Tan, who placed 18th for the BIR with P33.162 million in taxes.

TVI Resource Development (Phils.), Inc.’s Eugene T. Mateo (108th, P13.10 million) was second and former Trade Minister Roberto V. Ongpin (310th, P7.43 million) ranked third.

The Finance department’s lists continued to grew shorter, with only four among the country’s 29,892 architects, two among 176,048 doctors and dentists, and one out of 11,791 ad men said to have made it to the top taxpayers list.

The ad likewise declared that none of the 1,948 registered interior designers were among the county’s top 500 taxpayers.

The Finance department and the BIR have identified self-employed individuals, professionals, and small business owners as priority sectors in their thrust to expand the tax revenue base.

Based on BIR data, 1.8 million individuals are registered as self-employed, professionals or small business owners. Of this number, only around 400,000 file tax returns, with their payments averaging P33,441 annually.

Of the P223 billion in total individual tax collections last year, meanwhile, P181.7 billion or 81.5% came from the taxes withheld from compensation income earners. The self-employed, professionals and small business owners accounted for only P15.1 billion.

The BIR is the government’s main revenue agency, accounting for about 70% of collections. It is mandated to collect P1.253 trillion in tax revenues this year.

It had shored up P897.949 billion as of September, up 16.24% from a year earlier but short of the period’s P932.246-billion goal. The bureau must collect another P355.051 billion to meet the 2013 target. — B. F. V. Roc, Businessworld