THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said procurement delays prevented the tax management agency the scheduled roll-out of its Online Registration and Updating System (Orus). The BIR targeted to implement the Orus—a web-based system providing an end-to-end process for registration and updating of taxpayer registration information—in the first quarter.
Nonetheless, BIR Assistant Commissioner Teresita M. Angeles said during the “Ease of Doing Business” online summit the bureau expects the ORUS would be implemented by the third quarter. In lieu of the ORUS, Angeles said the BIR developed an “online submission application system,” or Osas, targeted to be rolled out next month.
“Between June and implementation of the ORUS, we have this OSAS to be used by the taxpayers,” she said.
Currently, Angeles said the BIR’s different Revenue District Offices are accepting applications through e-mail.
She said the BIR is also recommending the removal of the current definition of large taxpayers under the Tax Code so that the agency can come up with its own definition of different taxpayer segmentation and then simplify the requirements for micro-scale and small-scale enterprises.
“Included in the Tax Code is a definition of the large taxpayers. That is why it’s limiting us in simplification of the requirements of the small and micro enterprises so we are recommending at the definition of large taxpayers be removed, and from there the BIR can come up with our own definition of the different segmentation and then simplify the requirements of the small and micro enterprises in their process,” she said.
“If necessary, if we can take out the annual registration of P500 for the small and micro enterprises if the top management would recommend or would approve, we would be willing to do so,” she added.
By the fourth quarter of the year, the BIR is also expecting to roll out its “internal revenue integrated system,” or Iris, which will serve as the BIR’s central tool and repository to process taxpayers’ information.
“So all of these are intended towards the [digital transformation] vision of the BIR, which is: ‘BIR will be a digitally transformed institution providing convenient, reliable and transparent service to the taxpayers, to the Filipinos,’” she said.
Last year, the BIR collected a total of P1.95 trillion, exceeding by 15.74 percent its revised goal of P1.69 trillion. However, BIR’s total collection last year is still lower by 10.32 percent compared to the P2.18 trillion it collected in 2019.
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