BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR-CAR) warned online sellers of the possible filing of tax evasion charges against them by the bureau if they do not register their business activities for taxation purposes.
BIR-CAR regional director Douglas Rufino admitted that online selling and other income-generating activities through the various social media platforms had emerged during the prevalence of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic but these did not register with the bureau for them to issue official receipts for their respective transactions that will be the basis in the taxing them.
He said that online sellers in the different parts of the region should voluntarily register with the nearest revenue district office in their area for them to be authorized to issue receipts for their transactions as a concrete basis for the bureau to compute the taxes they should pay to the government.
For his part, BIR Baguio Revenue District Officer Wilfredo Reyes disclosed that regardless of how big or small the online business is, the owners are still mandated to register these with the bureau for them to be authorized to issue receipts where the taxes due the government will be computed.
Aside from online sellers, he claimed that other business activities that are being closely monitored by the bureau include online tutorial services and media influencers for them to settle their obligations with the government by paying their computed taxes based on their registration.
He admitted that the bureau continues to closely monitor the online business activities being conducted in the various social media platforms so that the owners of these will be required to register with the bureau for them to issue the mandated official receipts for their transactions so that it will be easier for the bureau to compute the taxes they should pay to the government.
According to Director Rufino, taxes are the lifeblood of the government thus the bureau is aggressively conducting tax mapping operations in the different parts of the region to ensure that people doing business activities pay the correct computed taxes which will be used to enhance the delivery of quality basic services and implement high impact development projects beneficial to the greater majority.
He pointed out that the bureau is mandated to generate revenues through the collection of taxes from individual and corporate taxpayers which is shared by both the national and local governments through the so-called internal revenue allotment (IRA).
Under the ruling of the Supreme Court in the Mandanas-Garcia case, revenues are not only confined to the taxes collected by the BIR but it also includes fees levied by the Bureau of Customs and other revenue-generating agencies from various activities within their jurisdictions.
Rufino stipulated that it is best for online business entrepreneurs to voluntarily declare their activities by registering their businesses with the bureau so that all their transactions are duly receipted as basis for the computation of the taxes they will be paying annually.
