Bookkeeping bodies lament hasty adoption of new tax-return documents

Even as the April 15 deadline for the filing of income-tax returns (ITRs) nears, tax practitioners continue to lament the new ITR forms mandated by the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) Revenue Regulations (RR) 2-2014 to be used starting this tax-filing season.

At the general membership meeting of the Tax Management Association of the Philippines (TMAP) last week, tax practitioners said the limited time given by the BIR for taxpayers to comply with the new ITR forms has added to the confusion over the use of these forms.

Ramon Garcia, past president of the Association of Certified Public Accountants in Public Practice, said the shift toward the new ITR forms should have been gradual, and should not have been imposed at the height of the tax-filing season.

“There’s already a feeling among the taxpayers that they’re reaching a certain tipping point wherein the BIR is already putting so much burden upon the taxpayer to comply,” Garcia said.

Another accountant, Tina Ocampo, who represented the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants, also lamented the hasty manner new regulations are issued by the BIR in recent months. She said a lot of the regulations are issued at the last minute, even as the taxpayers are expected to comply with them right away.

Another criticism that the members of TMAP expressed is the lack of public consultations before the regulation mandating the use of the new ITR forms was issued.

“Now, there are no genuine consultations. It used to be that the public consultations happen before any circular is issued, now it’s the other way around,” said lawyer Vicente Joyas, president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.

TMAP had already submitted its position paper regarding the new ITR forms to the House of Representatives’s Ways and Means Committee, raising these issues against the use of the new forms.

Another aspect of RR 2-2014 which the TMAP opposes is the use of the mandatory itemized deduction system for corporate and individual taxpayers which are either tax exempt, or with income subject to preferential tax rates, or with mixed income. TMAP’s position is that the National Internal Revenue Code explicitly allows the optional standard-deduction scheme for those subject to the regular income tax.

Meanwhile, Internal Revenue Deputy Commissioner Nelson Aspe assured that the BIR is conducting the information drive to inform taxpayers on how to use the new ITR forms. He also thanked groups such as TMAP for their efforts to hold seminars and information drives on the new ITR forms.  

source:  Business Mirror