PRESIDENT Duterte has authorized the Department of Finance (DOF) to enter into talks with the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) in a bid to secure a grant of $809,450 to support the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) digital transformation program.
In a statement on Wednesday, the DOF said the President has approved its request for a Special Authority to designate and authorize any one of its senior officials “to negotiate and/or facilitate, in accordance with law, for and on behalf of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines, with the authorized representatives of the USTDA.”
The Special Authority covers the negotiations for an agreement on the grant of $809,450.00 (approximately P38,850,873.20) by the USTDA for the BIR’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Modernization Strategy and Data Center Technical Assistance Project, the DOF said.
“The project funded by the USTDA grant will ensure an in-depth technical assessment of the BIR’s current ICT environment, the development of an Enterprise Architecture roadmap/framework and an assessment of the organizational framework of the BIR’s Information System Group including recommended restructuring and training programs,” the DOF said.
The senior officials recommended by DOF to the President were Undersecretaries Antonette C. Tionko and Mark Dennis Y.C. Joven along with BIR Deputy Commissioner Lanee C. David.
Tionko and Joven are the respective undersecretaries for the DOF’s Revenue Operations Group and International Finance Group while David is the deputy commissioner for the BIR’s Information Systems Group.
Duterte also designated and authorized Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III or BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay “to conclude, sign, execute and deliver the said Grant Agreement.”
Dominguez earlier said BIR’s digital transformation efforts paved the way for the significant improvement of the country’s tax effort from 13 percent of gross domestic product in 2015 to 14.5 percent of GDP in 2019.
A total of P1.241 trillion or 86 percent of the total P1.45 trillion collected by BIR from January to September last year was made through electronic payment channels, based on preliminary data earlier cited by DOF.
Electronic payment channels tapped by BIR were PayMaya, GCash, LandBank Linkbiz, Development Bank of the Philippines PayTax, UnionBank Online and PESONet.
The number of tax returns filed electronically from January to September last year reached 16.45 million or 94 percent of the total 17.42 million tax returns filed for the period.
To make the filing of tax returns more accessible and convenient, the BIR also improved the tax forms in its e-BIR Forms System.
In April last year, it also began the pilot implementation of its web-based Internal Revenue Integrated System to serve as the central tool and repository to process taxpayers’ information. The IRIS is targeted to be available nationwide by end-2021.
Apart from this, the BIR has also launched its e-Appointment Facility, electronic Audited Financial System, web-based Procurement, Payment, Inventory and Monitoring System and its Online Application for Tax Clearance for Bidding Purposes (eTCBP).
The BIR also concluded in June its competition dubbed the ‘HACK-A-TAX Challenge,’ which brought together talented information technology professionals, start-ups and students across the country to develop innovative digital-based solutions for the bureau.