Business Process Expert (Philippine Citizen)

Objective and Purpose of the Assignment

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is gearing toward modernization and digitalization in response to a call to sustain its efforts towards completely modernizing tax administration and to make compliance easier that is aligned with Republic Act No. 11032 or Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 and the Ease of Paying Taxes (EOPT) Bill. In addition, the BIR needs to be at pace with the changing needs of our taxpayers, which now require more efficient and robust technology and the new ways the world is doing business, consistent with the direction to all government offices to adopt or embrace digital transformation. The BIR modernization and digitalization initiatives aim to transform the BIR into a data-driven organization through a digitally empowered and resilient workforce utilizing reliable, scalable, and robust digital technologies and infrastructure to innovate BIR services and elevate taxpayer experience.

The BIR intends to develop a resilient core system that will integrate essential functionalities in today's modern landscape. The Electronic Invoicing/Receipting and Electronic Sales Reporting System plus critical allied projects shall be components in the modernization project: e.g., online registration and filing system, online withholding system, taxpayer ledger, electronic filing and payment, etc. Other project components may be identified during the project preparation phase.

·        Electronic Invoicing/Receipt and Sales Reporting System (EIS). This component aims to develop a web-based system that will ease taxpayer compliance and the requirements for issuance of invoices and receipts and strengthen the tax audit capabilities of the BIR. The EIS will be able to receive, store, and process required sales data (i.e., seller/buyer information, sales amount, discounts, etc.). The EIS will enable the BIR to access taxpayers' transaction information for assessment and data analysis, improve tax assessment and enforcement functions, and streamline the tax refund process. 

·        Online Withholding System (Project 230X). This component will modernize the withholding system by modernizing and streamlining the reporting processes on withholding taxes and certificates issued by payees evidencing taxes withheld. This component will be able to capture information on transactions subject to withholding tax, generate valid creditable withholding tax certificates, provide a facility for electronic filing and payment of withholding tax, and provide reconciliation and discrepancy reports. Project 230X will address the challenges of fraudulent use of withholding tax certificates and ensure proper accounting of withholding taxes and tax base for matching sales and purchases by transacting parties.

·        Taxpayer Ledger. This component aims to develop a system allowing taxpayers to view and verify their compliance with BIR registration, filing, and payment requirements based on their submitted/filed tax returns and registration details. It shall also provide a mechanism for the taxpayer to update its records. The taxpayer ledger will also provide a tool for BIR to analyze taxpayers' compliance trends and develop strategies to improve tax collection.

·        Electronic Filing and Payment and Submission Systems. This component will enhance the BIR's current filing and payment systems to allow a single filing and payment platform to improve taxpayer compliance and services. It will also cover systems to enable electronic submission of other documents as attachments to tax returns and submissions, such as summary lists of sales and purchases, alphabetical lists of employees and withholding agents, etc. This component will develop a secure central gateway for filing and submission that provides real-time feedback, allows effective monitoring of submissions, and generates automated reports to the BIR.

·        Online registration and taxpayer information update system. This component will enhance the Online Registration and Update System (ORUS) to provide important security features and functionalities to ensure data integrity of taxpayer information. It will also allow the BIR to link taxpayer information with other government registration databases from other government agencies to capture taxpayers registered in other government agencies but not yet registered in the BIR. The online taxpayer registration and update system will be the central system for managing taxpayer information.

·        Internal Revenue Integrated System (IRIS). The component will enhance the IRIS, a web-based system that uses a cloud platform, which serves as the Bureau's central tool and repository for processing taxpayer information, by expanding backend database infrastructure and allowing modules to be linkable with other systems and databases of other government agencies. 

In this regard, the BIR intends to engage a consultant firm to conduct a technical and financial feasibility study for the project and its components.