THE Department of Finance (DOF) is keen on completing its e-invoicing system by December 2022 in order to provide faster services to taxpayers.
Finance Assistant Secretary Antonio Joselito G. Lambino II said in a statement on Tuesday the system is part of government’s digital transformation in tax administration.
Lambino said this aims to address “the tendency of the current tax system to overemphasize controls and monitoring over the welfare of taxpayers and the overall ease and efficiency of compliance.”
“Progress has been made in modernizing information-technology services for taxpayers. However, further reforms are needed,” said Lambino. “The BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue], in partnership with the government of Korea, is set to complete the development of the e-invoicing system by end of 2022.”
Lambino said the new invoicing system will address problems in the existing system such as redundant data fields that are currently required in tax returns but which already form part of other mandatory attachments in paying taxes.
The government can do this since the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act allows the government to implement corrective measures to remove redundancies and inefficiencies in the tax system through the establishment of an e-invoicing system.
Lambino said this digital transformation will not only improve services to taxpayers but will also “result in administrative savings, and make the tax bureau more resilient and easily adaptable to changes in policy and technology.”
The BIR’s digital transformation agenda, he said, includes optimizing business processes, implementing an enabling infrastructure, maximizing the use of information for effective business operations and improving the digital literacy of the bureau’s work force.
“This agenda requires a high level of commitment, and the tax bureau has initiated foundational activities, such as business process mapping, starting this year,” he said.