Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda (left) and President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (Facebook)

The modernizer of long-stagnating systems. 

This was the new moniker given by Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda to President Marcos after the latter signed into law Republic Act (RA) No. 11976, or the Ease of Paying Taxes (EOPT) Act. 

Salceda, in a statement, described the EOPT Act as "the the most comprehensive tax administration reform since the 1997 National Internal Revenue Code". 

The House Committee on Ways and Means chairman says the new law introduces major improvements in tax administration. These are aimed at making the payment of taxes a more convenient experience for taxpayers. 

“It brings our tax administration system to the digital world--allowing the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) to shift to a full digitalization," Salceda noted. 

“In that sense, and in keeping with other reforms PBBM has signed, such as the PPP (Public Private Partnership) Code, it makes President Marcos a modernizer of long-stagnating systems,” he remarked. 

According to the Bicolano, the unifying theme of the law is to make tax compliance significantly easier for the smaller taxpayer, especially small businesses. 

“One key amendments is that we are introducing four classifications of taxpayers--micro, small, medium, and large--with easier requirements for the smaller taxpayer,” Salceda said. 

The EOPT Act also allows the filing of tax returns virtually everywhere. Tax returns can be filed, either electronically or manually, with any authorized agent bank, Revenue District Office through the Revenue Collection Officer, or authorized tax software provider. 

The law also removes the VAT official receipt as a requirement for substantiating refund claims and input and output taxes. Instead, VAT invoice will be the sole supporting document required in declaring output taxes and claiming input taxes for both sale of goods and services. 

It is thus expected to eliminate the discrepancy between the gross sales declared in the Income Tax Return (ITR) and VAT returns, making VAT refund processing easier and faster, he said. 

Salceda said that he was “elated above all by the fact that the EOPT was born here in the House, and was crafted after the House Committee on Ways and Means’s discussions with various stakeholders". 

"When we discuss anything in that Committee, it is truly in aid of modernizing legislation. This is a proud moment for the work our Committee does," he said.