The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will hold more roadshows in the coming weeks to boost its Taxpayer Education drive, following the passage of the Ease of Paying Taxes (EOPT) Law, BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. said on Thursday.

“Ito pong ginagawa po nating roadshow, ang layunin po nito ay maipaliwanag po sa mga taxpayers kung ano po ba ang nilalaman nitong Ease of Paying Taxes Law or EOPT Law (The purpose of this roadshow we are doing is to explain to the taxpayers what is the content of this Ease of Paying Taxes Law or EOPT Law),” Lumagui said during the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon briefing.

Signed into law earlier this year, the EOPT Act introduces administrative tax reforms and amendments to several sections of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997.

Its salient features are the classification of taxpayers into micro, small, medium and large; electronic or manual filing of returns and payment taxes either to the BIR, through any authorized agent bank or authorized tax software provider; option to pay internal revenue taxes removal to the city or municipal treasurer; the elimination of the distinction between documentation and basis of sales of goods and services; and the classification of value-added tax refund claims into low, medium and high-risk.

The law ensures the availability of registration facilities to non-Philippine resident taxpayers; promoting and assisting taxpayers in tax processes; streamlining; reducing documentary requirements; and digitalizing BIR services through the development of the Ease of Paying Taxes and Digitalization Roadmap.

The law also imposes 180 days to act on claims for refund of erroneous or illegal tax collection and increases the amount for the mandatory issuance of receipts for each sale and transfer of goods and services from PHP100 to PHP500.

“Marami pong naging improvement ang pagbabayad po ng buwis katulad po dyan ang, tinanggal po ang annual registration fee na PHP500 at magkaroon po tayo ngayon ng taxpayer classification – meron po tayong kina-classify na micro, small, medium at large taxpayers at depende kung saan po kayo mag-fall dyan ay iba-iba na po ang magiging pag-comply ng tax (There has been a lot of improvement in the payment of taxes, for example, the annual registration fee of PHP500 has been removed and we now have a taxpayer classification – we have classified as micro, small, medium and large taxpayers and depending on whether depending on where you fall, the tax compliance will be different),” Lumagui said.

He said the EOPT also made paying taxes easier.

“Kasi before po, kung saan po kayo rehistrado, dyan po dapat kayo nagpa-file at nagbabayad ng buwis. Sa batas po na ito, file-and-pay anywhere na po ang ginawa ng batas. At nandyan din po, pinadali po ang mga refund ng mga taxes ng mga nag bayad po ng mga… lalo na po sa mga VAT, mas pinadali po ang proseso (Before, where you registered, that’s where you should file and pay taxes. With this law, you can file and pay anywhere. The tax refunds of those who have paid… especially VAT, the process has been made easier),” he said.

To educate taxpayers on the EOPT Law, the BIR launched the Ease of Paying of Taxes roadshows in Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao, Koronadal, and Calasiao.

“At sa mga darating na mga linggo po ay patuloy po ang pag-iikot po natin sa buong Pilipinas mula Luzon, Visayas at Mindanao para po i-explain kung ano po ang batas at mga benepisyo at iyong revenue regulations na mga inisyu po natin (And in the coming weeks, we will continue to go around the Philippines from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to explain the law and the benefits and the revenue regulations that we have issued),” Lumagui said. (PNA)