With the implementation of the Tax Amnesty Program of 2007, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued two additional Revenue Memorandum Circulars (RMC), in addition to RMC No. 69-2007, to clarify certain provisions of the Tax Amnesty Program of 2007.

RMC No. 77-2007 dated November 16, 2007
Supplemental Provision to the Previously Issued Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC 69-2007) on Issues pertaining to the Tax Amnesty Program Under Republic Act No. 9480 as Implemented by Department Order No. 29-07

RMC No. 77-07 states that since there are also taxpayers who have received Letter Notice tagged as “SLSP/BOC Letter Notices”, the manner on how these taxpayers can avail of the tax amnesty and the amount of payment that needs to be paid is illustrated in the examples below:

Letter Notice sent:

Scenario A

Scenario B

For cases where taxpayer received two kinds of LN (TRS-LN or Consolidated BOC/SLSP LN), the basis of the tax amnesty amount shall be that LN which discrepancy/ies results in a higher increase in assets/networth.

RMC No. 90-2007 dated December 3, 2007
Amending the Provisions of Question and Answer (Q&A) No. 28 of the Previously Issued Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 69-2007 which Clarify Issues Concerning the Tax Amnesty Program Under Republic Act (RA) No. 9480 as Implemented by Department Order (DO) No. 29-07.

As provided in RMC No. 90-2007, the BIR already allows companies in a deficit position to avail of the tax amnesty provided that amendments to the Balance Sheet shall be made resulting in a reduction in the reported deficit. The resulting decrease in the deficit shall be the basis for the computation of the five percent (5%) amnesty tax rate and the amnesty tax payable is whichever is higher between the resulting figure after applying the five percent (5%) on the reduction in capital deficit or the prescribed minimum amount. However, companies in a deficit position who will not amend their Balance Sheets are not qualified to avail of the tax amnesty.

In addition to the above RMCs, the BIR also made the following issuances

RMC No. 79-2007 dated December 4, 2007
Conduct of Post-Audit Review by the Office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue on Randomly-Selected Audit and Collection Cases

To check whether there are tax leakages in the system of tax audit, surveillance, stock-taking, revenue collection, etc., the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, through her authorized representative, shall conduct a post-audit review of audit cases, collection cases and cases covered by Mission Order, acted upon and terminated in 2007. Starting January 2008, randomly-selected cases handled by the Regional Offices, Enforcement Service and Large Taxpayers Service shall be subjected to post-audit review, which may include the following cases:

1. AUDIT CASES – Audit Cases shall include:
1. Those which are covered by Letter of Authority (LA)/ Tax Verification Notice (TVN)/ Mission Order (MO) or those which were issued Letter Notice (LN), which were terminated in 2007 – to check the correctness of actions taken on these cases;
2. Those which are covered by LA/TVN/MO or were issued LN, but still pending- to check the cause of delay in terminating the case;
2. DELINQUENT ACCOUNTS – shall include:
1. Those which were collected in 2007; and
2. Those which are still pending.

The post-audit review shall pay particular attention on the “Value Added Tax (VAT)-Compliance” and “Documentary Stamp Tax-Compliance” of taxpayers covered by the audit or collection cases, etc.

RMC No. 82-2007 dated December 4, 2007
Taxpayers’ Responsibility for Representations Made in their Behalf by Their Tax Agents

In the above RMC, taxpayers are advised that the contents and representations – as they are reflected in the tax returns and information statements filed with the BIR – made in their behalf by their tax agents, remain their responsibility in their capacity as the principals stated in the aforesaid returns and information statements. In this regard, a taxpayer is under strict obligation to check, verify and validate:

• The authenticity of a tax return and/or information statement made in their behalf; and
• The correctness and validity of the information contained in such documents.

In this regard, in cases where it is found that the purported tax payments were not actually received by the BIR, the liability to pay said tax payments again shall remain the responsibility of the concerned taxpayers, even if it should be claimed that such tax payments had already been made in their behalf by their tax agents.

As such, effective January 2008, all Collecting Offices of the BIR, (i.e. Large Taxpayers Service, the Regional and District Offices) are hereby directed to verify and authenticate the validity and correctness of all tax returns prepared, signed and filed by tax agents in behalf of their clients. Any findings, errors, violations or infractions noted therein as a result of such verification and authentication procedures shall render both the taxpayer and his / its tax agent civilly, administratively and criminally liable, pursuant to existing laws and regulations.