The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs, the government’s two main tax agencies, are ramping up their respective anti-corruption campaigns by modernizing their operations through digitalization.
In a statement on Friday, Aug. 26, Finance Secretary E. Benjamin Diokno has identified digitalization as the key in transforming and eradicating corruption within the two tax bureaus.
“I think, to be fair with both agencies, they have done a lot already during the past administration. What we can promise is, we’ll do even better,” Diokno said.
The Digital Transformation (DX) Program of the BIR aims to transform the bureau into a data-driven organization through a digitally-empowered workforce capable of harnessing digital technologies to improve BIR services and enhance taxpayer experience.
In 2021, 93 percent of returns were filed electronically, and taxpayers were offered more convenient ways to pay taxes as BIR services were made available 24/7.
Aside from digital transformation, BIR Commissioner Lilia Guillermo is also pushing for moral transformation within the organization through value-formation courses.
Over at the Customs, Deputy Commissioner Edward James Dy Buco noted that the agency was one of the first government agencies to implement paperless transactions.
The World Bank is currently supporting the digitalization of the Customs through a $88.28 million financing for the Philippine Customs Modernization Program.
The project focuses on transitioning from a largely manual and paper-based organization to a modernized Customs, achieving global standards and full modernization by 2024.
Buco told senators that 91.18 percent or 155 out of 170 customs processes are already automated.
Last March 1, the Customs, in coordination with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), also completed a national action plan for cross-border paperless trade.
In addition, the Customs has enrolled in various integrity enhancement and moral transformation programs, according to Buco.
In its intensified campaign against corruption, the Customs has transferred 3,855 employees, served show-cause orders to 1,407 personnel, filed 183 administrative cases, transmitted 164 complaints to the Office of the Ombudsman, relieved 192 employees, and dismissed 24 from the service.
With their extensive digitalization programs under the previous administration, the BIR and Customs were able to sustain their operations throughout the pandemic and even exceeded their collection targets.
The BIR, for instance, generated a total of P2.1 trillion in 2021, which is P5.1 billion higher than its target for the year.