P2.3B Target: BIR Eastern P’gasinan faces tall order

After leading a collection streak last year

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

URDANETA CITY - After leading the monthly collection streak's last year, the tax office in Eastern Pangasinan faces a tall order to collect P2, 298, 570,000.00 or almost 40 % more of its last year’s collection.

According to data secured by this newspaper at the Regional Office, Revenue District Office -6 based here collected P1, 900, 827,797.19 last year.

Under the present stewardship of RDO-6 Chief Maria Isabel B. Utit, the office had an average of 17% collection performances in years 2016 and 2017.

BRASS – Bureau of Internal Revenue’s Eastern Pangasinan Chief CPA-Lawyer Maria Isabel Utit poses with BIR Commissioner Cesar Dulay.

“We reversed this office’s anemic six percent average collection performances in 2011 to 2015,” She said.

Utit, a Certified Public Accountant and a lawyer, cited her being strict to pursue what those delinquent taxpayers owed the government that resulted, as one of the factors, of the collection turned around of RDO-6.

RDO-6 covers this thriving city and 15 towns.

Among the six RDOs in the four provinces’ Region 1, data shows that the tax agency’s Eastern Pangasinan office carries the yeoman’s job for the national government to spike by 39.28% of its collection last year to its target this year.

An RDO, as practice all over the country, used to have an average of 20% tax hike from its previous year's collection.

Below is the comparison of the collection last year and the tax targets this year of the six RDOs:

Meanwhile, amid the economic crunch, the head of the tax agency in Central Pangasinan launched Operation Kandado (Padlock) to boost her tax collection for this year.

Revenue District Office – 4 Chief Merlyn DV Vicente said three business establishments in Dagupan City and Manaoag town were raided by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and closed through its Operation Kandado.

O.K is a measure by the tax agency to taxpayers who are remissed in reporting and paying their correct value-added tax (VAT) liabilities, their failures to issue official receipts, file their VAT returns or registered them to the BIR, understates their taxable sales or receipts by 30% or more of the correct amount on the case of a VAT-registered taxpayer, and others.

Vicente said those commercial establishment that had been closed by Operation Kandado can open their business after they pay their tax dues and comply with the requirements of the tax agency.

She said her office, that oversees the two cities and 13 towns, had been ordered to collect P4, 772, 404,000 - an 18.90% jumped from its collection last year of P4, 015, 661,029.41.

RDO-4 is the prime BIR’s office in the Ilocos Region as it has a burgeouning business environment compared to its five contemparies in Region-1.

She said that the regional office of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in Region 1 was tasked by the national government to collect P17, 646,987,000.00 this year.

This year’s tax target is an increase of 23.11 % to the last year’s collection of P14, 699,567,638.47, according to Revenue District Office-4 Chief Merlyn DV Vicente.

She cited that the regional office, under Director Clavelina S. Nacar that covered the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, and Pangasinan, had a goal of P14, 334,316,000.00 last year.

A data secured by this newspaper showed the spikes of the percentages of the collection for this year versus last year.  17.35% for RDO-1 in  Laoag City ; 22.31% for RDO 2 in Vigan City;  24.20% for RDO 3 in San Fernando City; 18.90% for RDO-4 here; 22.80% for RDO-5 in Alaminos City ;  and 39.28% for RDO-6 in Urdaneta City.

BIR insiders, who asked for anonymity, told Northern Watch that many RDO chiefs considered the hundreds of millions of pesos collection target this year a tall order from the tax agency’s national office in Quezon City.