BIR-related payments disrupt bank services

To avoid delay of tax due payments, bankers advised company bookkeepers to pay directly to the Bureau of Internal Revenue, instead of coursing payments through banks.

Former president of Cebu Bankers Club (CBC) Prudencio Gesta said encouraging bookkeepers to directly pay tax due payments to BIR would minimize complaints of slow service and limited accepted of BIR related payments from banking institutions.

This developed after some members of the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) expressed concerns on some banks’ refusal to accept BIR related payments, despite BIR’s accreditation of the bank.

“Banks have several services. We have other clients to attend to. We can not focus only to attending BIR related payment services. Some banks have to limit their acceptance of this particular service,” said Gesta who is also the RCBC area head for Central Eastern Visayas business centers.

In most cases, Gesta said one bookkeeper for instance would bring 30 to 40 books, and this would already affect the entire service of a bank.

“It’s not true that banks are not accepting BIR related payments. But we have also to limit acceptance of this particular service. If we don’t limit it, the bank will be crowded and this would affect our other services,” Gesta said.

Therefore, he said bookkeepers may have to go directly to BIR for their payments, for prompt service, while banks have limitations in attending this particular service.

On the other hand, BIR officer-in-charge and deputy commissioner Nelson M. Aspe said otherwise and in fact warned banks not to reject BIR related payments tendered by any tax payer.

“Hindi po nila [banks] pwedeng tanggihan ang mga checks for BIR deposits,” Aspe said.

Gesta maintained banks are still accepting this kind of payment from tax payers, but reiterated that it has to limit their acceptance in a day, for other business reasons.

Gesta added that some banks have to allot a specific time to accept BIR payments, and some bookkeepers do not observe this rule, the reason why some of them can not be accommodated.

The Philippine government through the BIR had just implemented the Republic Act (RA) 9480 or the Tax Amnesty Law.

The RA 9480 offers, among others, an immunity from payment of taxes and penalties due to non-payment of tax for 2005 and prior years; inadmissibility of the tax amnesty return and statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN); immunity of the SALN and tax amnesty return from being inquired or looked into by any person; and immunity from audit.  

Through the Amnesty, which is the first of its kind passed into Law in the Philippines, aims at generating at a low of P4 billion to as high as P12 billion in revenue for the government’s coffers.