Paying taxes should be convenient and seamless. With this in mind, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) announced plans to conduct more roadshows in the coming week to inform the public about the Ease of Paying Taxes (EOPT) Law, BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. said.
"The purpose of this roadshow we are doing is to explain to the taxpayers the content of this Ease of Paying Taxes Law or EOPT Law," Lumagui said during the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon briefing.
Signed into law earlier this year, the EOPT Act introduces administrative tax reforms and amendments to several sections of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997.
Its salient features are the classification of taxpayers into micro, small, medium, and large; electronic or manual filing of returns and payment taxes either to the BIR, through any authorized agent bank or authorized tax software provider; option to pay internal revenue taxes removal to the city or municipal treasurer; the elimination of the distinction between documentation and basis of sales of goods and services; and the classification of value-added tax refund claims into low, medium and high-risk.
The law ensures the availability of registration facilities to non-Philippine resident taxpayers, promotes and assists taxpayers in tax processes, streamlines and reduces documentary requirements, and digitalizes BIR services through the development of the Ease of Paying Taxes and Digitalization Roadmap.
The law also imposes 180 days to act on claims for refund of erroneous or illegal tax collection. It increases the mandatory issuance of receipts for each sale and transfer of goods and services from P100 to P500.
"There has been a lot of improvement in the payment of taxes, for example, the annual registration fee of P500 has been removed, and we now have a taxpayer classification - we have classified as micro, small, medium, and large taxpayers and depending on whether depending on where you fall, the tax compliance will be different," Lumagui said.
He said the EOPT also made paying taxes easier.
"Before, where you registered, you should file and pay taxes. With this law, you can file and pay anywhere. The tax refunds of those who have paid... especially VAT, the process has been made easier," he said.
To educate taxpayers on the EOPT Law, the BIR launched the Ease of Paying of Taxes roadshows in Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao, Koronadal, and Calasiao.
"And in the coming weeks, we will continue to go around the Philippines from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to explain the law and the benefits and the revenue regulations we have issued," Lumagui said.
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