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San Juan City bid to raise more funds affected by tax collection irregularities
San Juan City bid to raise more funds affected by tax collection irregularities
Irregularities in the assessment and collection of various local taxes have affected San Juan City’s bid to raise more funds last year, a report of the Commission on Audit has revealed.
In the 2019 annual audit report for the Metro Manila city, CoA called the attention of city executives on several tax collection issues uncovered by State auditors.
“The City did not subject the 1,625 buildings and machineries to the general revision of real property assessments during CY 2019 which is not in consonance with the provisions of City Ordinance No. 46, Series of 2017, resulting in reduced revenues during the year,” the report prepared by CoA Director Omar Roque said.
CoA said the real property units should have been subjected to the general revision of assessment under City Ordinance No. 46. This should have resulted to higher revenues for the city.
The State audit agency also revealed that Real Property Tax (RPT) and Special Education Tax (SET) receivables and the corresponding Deferred RPT and SET accounts for the year amounting to P6.934 million and P3.869 million, respectively, were “incomplete, inaccurate, and unreliable.”
Auditors said this is due to various reasons, including the lack of documentary evidence to support tax exemptions granted.
“Our analysis revealed that there were 239 buildings, 359 land, and four machineries or a total of 602 RPUs (real property units) in 21 barangays listed in the Assessment Roll as tax exempt, but there were no documents to support such exemption,” CoA noted.
The RPUs granted exemptions were owned by private persons or corporations and actual use “did not fall under educational nor religious purpose,” the audit report disclosed.
“Ascertain that all real property owners seeking tax exemption provide the necessary documentary requirements to support their claim,” auditors told the city government.
According to CoA, ending balances in RPT and SET as of Dec. 31, 2019, amounting to P105.932 million and P63.252 million, respectively, were unreliable due to incomplete list of delinquent taxpayers and inclusion of exempted RPUs in the delinquency list, among others.
In the same report, auditors noted that business tax rates imposed by the City Business Permits and Licenses Tax Administration System (BPLTAS) are not in accordance with the existing San Juan revenue code.