MANILA, Philippines – Only about three million Filipinos are registered as individual taxpayers with the Bureau of Internal Revenues (BIR), the Department of Finance (DOF) announced yesterday.
Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said Filipinos who are registered as taxpayers, about 3.4 percent of the country’s total population and about 8.9 percent of about 34.3 million listed as employed by the National Statistics Office (NSO).
Teves said the low registration rate could be improved if new graduates would register and get their tax identification number with the BIR since it was a prerequisite for their future employment.
“We invite all of you to register with the BIR and get your own TIN,” Teves said. “This should be your first official act as professionals and income taxpayers. We need you to register as taxpayers.”
The low registration rate also indicated the magnitude of the gap between the government’s actual tax collection and the amount that it should actually get from individual taxpayers.
However, salaried individual taxpayers are actually the most conscientious taxpayers since their taxes are normally automatically withheld by their employers.
The worst individual taxpayers group are self-employed individuals – usually businessmen and entrepreneurs – and professionals such as doctors and lawyers.
The DOF earlier said doctors are especially notorious for low compliance since their profession did not, by nature, create a paper trail unlike lawyers whose practice necessitate documentations per transaction.
“We need you to pay the right taxes. Our country needs you to be responsible taxpayers. Because the taxes that you pay fund the development of our nation,” Teves said.
The only individual taxpayers who are not expected to pay their individual income taxes are minimum wage earners and those who earn less than the minimum wage. –Des Ferriols, Philippine Star
June 2025
Philippine Environment Month!
“Action for Nature, for the Future!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideosturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
1 Jun – World Day of Parents
5 Jun – World Environment Day
7 Jun – World Food Safety Day
8 Jun – World Oceans Day
12 Jun – World Day Against Child Labour
15 Jun – World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
16 Jun – International Day of Family Remittances
17 Jun – World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
20 Jun – World Refugee Day
25 Jun – Day of the Seafarer
27 Jun – Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day
Daily Observances:
June 6: Migrant Workers Day
June 19: Filipino Youth Day
June 25: Day of the Filipino Seafarer
