BIR-13 gives self-employed professionals chance to amend ITR
CEBU CITY, April 12 (PIA) -- The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR-13) has given self-employed professionals the chance to amend their past income tax returns (ITR) or to avoid tax fraud.
BIR-13 assistant regional director Conrado Lee said they have conducted a series of tax information seminars to self-employed professionals. They were made to understand their obligation to pay the accurate amount of tax to the government.
“We have given them until March 30 to amend their ITR so we will know after next week whether they have complied with our directive,” said Lee.
The deadline for the filing of ITR is on Monday, April 16.
Self-employed professionals cited by Lee were medical doctors including dentists, lawyers, accountants, engineers, customs broker and real estate brokers.
Lee said most self-employed professionals do not report their accurate earnings resulting to lesser amount of taxes remitted to the government.
“There are 4,344 self-employed professionals in our list and we will know whether the taxes they remitted are actually based on their accurate earnings for the year. We will compare their tax remittances to our record of performance database of such professionals,” declared Lee.
Of the total figure, 2,405 are doctors and dentists followed by lawyers with 636 then engineers with 575. In fourth place are the practicing accountants with 414 then the 295 real estate brokers and lastly, the 19 customs broker.
In 2010, the combined tax remittances of these self-employed professionals amounted to P124.280 million which went down last year to P118.086 million.
In case of failure to amend their ITR despite being warned, Lee said they will start investigating the concerned self-employed professionals. If proven that they did not declare their earnings correctly, then proper charges will be filed against them, according to Lee.
“The important thing is they are given a chance to amend their ITR and it is up to them now to comply,” said Lee.
Lee estimated around 50 percent national revenue losses due to non-accurate filing of ITR by self-employed professionals throughout the country.
The BIR-13 has five district offices; four of which are based in Cebu and another district office is located in Tagbilaran City which covers the province of Bohol. (PIA7 Cebu)
============
Community dev’t work needs committed, passionate individuals
CEBU CITY, April 11 (PIA) -- Community development work needs people who are dedicated, committed and passionate about their job of community service.
Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI) human resource recruitment in-charge Mileesa Lumanog said, the interest and passion to serve are very important factors in working in community development.
“Social development is also a good venue for personal and professional growth because of in-depth exposure to community work,” Lumanog added.
According to Lumanog if one has skills but the commitment is not there, one is not able to last in the work that involves serving various communities, sometimes very remote communities.
Jenny Tan is a graduate in computer science and is equipped to work in the area of information technology where the pay and career growth are promising.
However, Tan went a different way; she decided to build her niche in community development far from operating systems of computers. She works at the Dilaab Foundation as a program coordinator.
"After graduation, I was discerning where my heart is, where I will be happy. I know community development is where I belong. I decided to apply as a program assistant at Dilaab Foundation,” Tan said in Cebuano.
Dilaab Foundation is a volunteer-driven, Church-based movement for a transformed Filipino nation through heroic Christian citizenship.
Tan cited her passion in community building as the reason she has been involved in social development for the past three years now.
“My friends asked me why I am still at Dilaab Foundation. It is because I feel the sense of belongingness in a way that I belong to a community I am able to help. Each time I witness the impact of our projects, I feel a sense of fulfilment that I could not explain. This is the thing I would like to do for the rest of my life,” Tan stated. (PIA-7/MBCN & RAFI/Haidee Emmie K. Palapar)