FINANCE Secretary Cesar Purisima has told the Bureau of Internal Revenue to implement measures to drastically increase the average income-tax payments of professionals and self-employed this year.
At the sidelines of the Tax Management Association of the Philippines on Tuesday evening, Purisima said he was “personally” monitoring the income-tax payments of professionals and self-employed down to the BIR’s regional district offices.
“The income-tax payments of the professionals should drastically increase by year-end. And I asked BIR to increase the average payment,” he said.
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The finance secretary said he wanted to see the current average of P5,600 income-tax payment of the professionals to increase to an average P100,000 by the end of the year.
When asked if the target was doable, Purisima said: “We will continue to set ambitious goals in order for the BIR to reach its [revenue] goal.”
This was the first time that government gave the BIR a target that would breach the P1 trillion mark.
“If (BIR Commissioner) Kim Henares reaches her target, she will be the first one to collect [revenues of] more than P1 trillion,” Purisima said.
The BIR earlier said it raised its target collection from professionals and other self-employed individuals to P222.28 billion this year, an increase of 15 percent from 2011’s projected revenue of P192.72 billion.
Income taxes from individuals account for more than 20 percent of the BIR’s tax collection; the bulk, however, comes from salaried individuals whose income taxes are automatically withheld by their employers.
The BIR is using its Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) program to drive the professionals and self-employed to report their income and pay the right taxes. During the previous months, the BIR has been filing cases against professionals, such as doctors and lawyers.
The first case against professionals involved the P2.9-million tax deficiency of Drs. Vicente Gana Castillo and Ma. Teresa Chan Castillo.
Purisima said earlier that the incidence of tax evasion among professionals in the country was high.
The Professional Regulation Commission lists some 3 million registered professionals in the country; around 190,000 are doctors and lawyers, the two top earners. The rest are accountants, engineers, nurses and seafarers who are either self-employed or employed.
This year, the BIR has been given a target of P1.066 trillion, some 63 percent of which will come from the large taxpayers.
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