The paper assesses the “resibo” programs undertaken by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to determine their effectiveness in running after unscrupulous businessmen, professionals and self-employed individuals.
The monitoring of the issuance of receipts by business establishments is an essential aspect of effective tax administration. To emphasize its importance, the BIR has undertaken series of raffle programs to encourage the taxpaying public to demand for receipts of their purchases of goods and services, thereby compelling business establishments to issue official receipts (OR) or sales invoices. Among the raffle programs conducted by the BIR were the “Humingi ng Resibo, Manalo ng Libo-Libo”, “Humingi ng Resibo, Milyun-Milyong Panalo” and “Humingi ng Resibo, Milyun-Milyon Pa Rin and Panalo” conducted in 1998, 1999 and 2000, respectively, “Bayan I-Txt and Resibo” in 2003 and 2004 and the most recent is the “Premyo as Resibo” which was launched in June 2006.
Considering the positive impact of the “resibo” programs of the BIR in revenue collections, the BIR and the Department of Finance (DOF) together with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and PhilWeb Corporation (PhilWeb) entered into an agreement in 2006 to undertake another nationwide electronic raffle called “Premyo sa Resibo (PSR)” program. The PSR is an incentive and reward program to support the BIR in its effort to plug leakages in the collection of proper taxes from business establishments due to non-issuance of appropriate receipts or failure to declare correct receipts in selling of goods or services to the public. Like the previous raffle programs, the PSR program also gives away cash and non-cash prizes which totaled to more than PhP190 million from June 2006 – September 2013.
Entries to the PSR raffle are sent through the SMS indicating the TIN of the issuer of the OR, receipt number and receipt amount. Each valid SMS entry is issued an Entry Confirmation Number (ECN) while invalid SMS entries are sent corresponding error messages. Valid entries qualify for a free prepaid load prize of PhP30 in a daily raffle. Each SMS entry is charged PhP2.50. Non-winning entries still have a chance to win PhP1 million in the grand draw. The PhilWeb takes charge of prizes. A prize check is prepared by the PhilWeb upon submission by the winner of the required validation documents. The cash prizes involved in the PSR are sourced from the money earned out of the SMS entries and are given to participating taxpayers only.
Since the PSR aims to raise public awareness on the importance of asking for receipts/invoices, the BIR provides the consumers a medium to report non-issuers of receipts through the establishment of the “No Official Receipt (No OR)” reporting facilities that are intended to accept complaints or reports against individuals or business establishments for not issuing OR/sales invoices.
A similar proposal, House Bill (HB) No. 2266, otherwise known as the “Voluntary Tax Compliance Incentives Act of 2013” seeks to conduct a quarterly raffle of ORs and grant incentives in the form of cash prizes to be given to both the buyers of goods and services and issuers of ORs or sales invoices. Also, there is no additional cost on the part of the participating taxpayers as the ORs are the ones to be raffled. The cash prizes will be taken out of the Priofity Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of the participating Member of the House of Representatives.
Considering the success of the existing “resibo” programs of the BIR and the knowledge and capability of the said agency in implementing the same, another resibo-related proposal is no longer necessary. The good features of the proposed raffle activity may, however, be incorporated in the existing PSR to further improve the latter. For one, the BIR may, on its own, undertake the PSR program just as it did in the previous “resibo” programs of the government so as not to pass its implementation to a private corporation. Also, the BIR should consider the possibility of devising a mechanism wherein the senders will not be charged so as not to impose additional cost to the participating taxpayers in sending raffle entries through SMS. The PSR program should likewise grant cash incentives to business establishments to motivate them to issue receipts/invoices. In addition, the BIR should intensify its promotion of the PSR so that more people would know about the objective of the said program and entice them to join the same. The PSR does not only give chance to people to win prizes but also educates the public regarding the importance of the issuance of BIR-authorized or registered receipts/invoices in tax administration.
Along with the grant of raffle cash prizes to promote tax consciousness and encourage tax compliance, the BIR should likewise continuously and rigorously implement its 26-point program which include among others, the Run After Tax Evaders (RATE), Oplan Kandado, Tax Mapping and TCVD, the use and matching of third party data and information of systems and processes. More importantly, the BIR should maintain its high quality service to ensure taxpayer satisfaction that will enhance voluntary tax compliance and improve tax collection.
