BIR launches tax awareness campaign

MANILA, Philippines - It's officially the tax season after the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) launched on Wednesday its annual tax awareness campaign, this time focused on encouraging the public to file their returns electronically.

Themed "Angat 'Pa, 'Pinas!," the BIR's campaign is in line with the upcoming deadline of the filing and paying of income taxes by April.

"Everyone is duty bound to pay taxes. That is our duty to our country," BIR Deputy Commissioner Nelson Aspe said in the campaign launch in Quezon City. 

The launch featured an infomercial that shows the BIR's electronic filing system, including downloadable BIR forms, online registration and on-time and easier filing and paying of taxes.

Last year, the bureau drew flak after it issued an order to select taxpayers, including government offices, to use its e-filing system to settle taxes. 

Reports of the system bogging down and taxpayers being unable to access the website were recorded. Last December, the BIR said that it has started improving its systems to absorb higher utilization.

"We want to show we are going in the right direction," BIR Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares said in a statement.

In 2011, the government signed a $54.3-million Revenue Administration Reform Project, included under its first Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) with the US, to improve the BIR's IT system.

The current MCA program concludes in May this year.

The BIR is the government's main revenue agency, traditionally generating more than 80 percent of tax revenues.

As of November last year, it collected P1.327 trillion, up 12 percent from a year ago, but far from its 2015 goal of P1.974 trillion.

During the same period, income taxes accounted for 58.45 percent of total collections at P775.58 billion.

"No matter how big or small their contributions are, the taxes they pay will help the government fund public spending for various projects and programs that bring about economic and sustainable growth...," Henares said.

"Taxes are integral to the nation's progress," she added.