Lawmakers work on crafting improved tax compliance after CREATE’s passage
Lawmakers have been proposing various amendments to cater to the changes brought by the newly-enacted Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprise Act (CREATE) last March 26.
One of the first notable amendments was introduced by the House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means approved House Bill (HB) №7881 or the “Ease of Paying Taxes Act,” which proposed a taxpayer classification based on their capacity to comply with tax rules and regulations, amount and type of tax paid, and/or the gross sales and/or receipts of the taxpayer.
Further, the bill, which was later on substituted by HB №8942 on March 9, 2021, proposed the relaxation of the rules on filing of returns and payment of taxes. The bill will now allow taxpayers to file their tax returns with any authorized agent bank, Revenue District Office and Collection Agent, or outside of their registered district offices.
In addition, it proposed a unified invoicing requirement for value-added tax (VAT) — registered taxpayers.
Kathleen Guiang, junior Associate and a member of the Corporate, Tax, Technology Media and Telecommunication Groups of Gorriceta Africa Cauton & Saavedra, hopes that with all these amendments, the Philippines “may get a chance to improve its ratings in the Doing Business score, particularly the Paying Taxes index.”
A move into a more digital tax-paying infrastructure is also a “welcome improvement,” noted Guiang.
