A BILL modernizing tax administration and simplifying tax compliance has been approved on second reading at the House of Representatives.
House Bill 4125 or the proposed Ease of Paying Taxes Act, also tailors the compliance process for the various types of taxpayer.
The bill is a priority measure of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. as laid out in his State of the Nation Address on July 25.
It simplifies tax returns and processes for smaller taxpayers to ease compliance, introduces a medium-sized taxpayer classification, creates a special unit of the Bureau of Internal Revenue focused on improving taxpayer services, and removes the P500 annual taxpayer registration fee.
An amendment was also approved in Section 28, inserting a new paragraph setting the eligibility requirements for “tax advocates,” who are Filipino citizens, 40 years of age, lawyers and certified public accountants with 10 years’ tax experience.
It also seeks to amend via the insertion of Section 314 into the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997 as amended. The section prescribes the penalty of 2-5 years’ imprisonment and a fine of P50,000-P100,000 for persons, including public officials, who violate the taxpayer bill of rights. — Kyanna Angela Bulan