Making tax a less taxing matter

MANILA, Philippines - To ask hard-working Filipinos about their taxes is one complex query, because for some, the paradigm seems too elaborate and the ROI (return on investment), uncertain.

Based on a recent report by the Tax Management Association of the Philippines, Filipino workers pay the highest income tax in the entire Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region. And whether your company is a multinational firm, part of a conglomerate or a small or medium enterprise, there’s no escaping tax.

As the old adage goes, the only things certain in life are death and taxes. But to help companies muddle through the mayhem is a law firm that focuses on tax and corporate law, BDB Law or Du-Baladad and Associates.

The company specializes in the areas of taxation and corporate law and has a team of experienced tax lawyers who are mostly accountant lawyers and economist lawyers. 

In a recent interview with The Star, BDB Law managing partner and chief executive officer Benedicta Du-Baladad, said that  the situation now calls for services offered by BDB because of the demands of the times, given the stricter implementation of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) of the country’s tax laws. 

Du-Baladad said the BIR has been able to put in the minds of the people that they have to pay their taxes.

“Now people are more prudent in the way they handle their tax matters,” she added.

Given the recent crackdown on taxpayers, both companies and individuals should always be compliant, explained Du-Baladad.“People must stay on the conservative side and should be able to consult the BIR.” 

On the part of the BIR, the tax expert said that the agency must make it easier for taxpayers to comply.

“You have to educate them, make the processing simple, make the forms simple. They should be able to assist people. For example, the SMEs must have separate set of rules for SMEs. The requirements are the same for SMEs and very costly to be complying with the BIR’s requirements. To my mind the ideal situation is law enforcement agency.”

Tax compliance

BDB, both an auditing and a law firm, offers a host of services, such as preventive measures to make sure there are no risks for a company and also assists clients in complying with tax assessments. For clients’ with cases, they are provided professional help from beginning to end.

But before establishing BDB Law, Du-Baladad worked for one of the leading auditing firms in the country, but realized that she could not perform end-to-end services.

“We realized we cannot perform tax services end-to-end so I decided to put up BDB to provide the services that an auditing and tax firm can through a law firm.  Essentially, it’s being able to provide comprehensive tax services to clients through just one firm.”

 Its clients now include conglomerates, multinational banking, financial institutions, and companies from the power and energy sector, among others.

At present, the company’s biggest source of revenue is from tax litigation.

 “We also have tax advisory cases. These are also cases on defending the clients against assessment or questioning its legality. The message is about being able to strictly comply now. There are always issues,” she said.

In cases where one has erroneously or excessively paid taxes or has unutilized VAT input taxes related to zero-rated sales, BDB also helps with tax refunds.

“We can help you recover by applying for the issuance of refund or tax credit certificates (TCCs) with the Tax Bureau and with the Courts.” 

But in some cases, tax disputes may not be resolved at the administrative level without going to the courts. 

“Thus, where judicial adjudication is unavoidable in assessment cases, or where court intervention is necessary to protect a tax refund claim, we can represent you before the courts throughout the litigation process,” Du-Baladad added.

Now on its fifth year, BDB clearly espouses fair and consistent tax rules.

“We always advocate for fair and simple consistent tax rules, whether tax administration or tax policies. We call it tax efficiency and we advocate for what is within the permissive grounds,” she said.