BIR to reshuffle data encoders after errors in taxpayers’ list

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will reshuffle its data encoders after errors were discovered in the list of top taxpayers for 2009 released last week. BIR Commissioner Kim Henares cited the mistake as “human error," saying the agency would do more verification for future lists. “We will eliminate encoding so we will capture the data," Henares said this weekend, referring to the use of the copy-paste system instead of the manual entry of data on the list. Encoders rounded-off the income data of individual taxpayers Rosabelle Bandong, an associate director of a production company, and lawyer Francis Carlo Taparan, which placed the two on the country’s top taxpayers list for 2009, the BIR said. According to the list the bureau initially published last week, Bandong paid P57.8 million in taxes. However, she actually paid only around P57,000. Taparan was also erroneously listed as having paid P38.7 million when he actually paid only around P38,000. The lawyer had complained with the BIR about the erroneous data, prompting Henares to make a public apology for the blunder. From now on the agency would ensure only correct data would be encoded on the tax payer’s list, the BIR chief said. Such mistakes do not happen in actual assessments and tax payments, the numbers of which are verified and checked by at least four people who revert to the original data and not just the submitted forms, she clarified. The BIR had since corrected the list, removing Bandong and Taparan from it. Partial list of top tax payers A partial list of bureau’s 2009 top taxpayers include:

• Elaine Gardional, DPWH contractor (P59 million)
• Ramon Ang, SMC president (P26.4 million)
• Oscar Lopez, First Philippine Holdings chairman (P25.7 million)
• Henry Sy Sr., SM Prime chairman (P25.18 million)
• Manuel Lopez, former Meralco chairman (P19.32 million)
• Manuel Pangilinan, PLDT chairman (P19.28 million)
• Lucio Tan, Fortune Tobacco, PAL (P9.23 million)
• Eugenio Lopez III, ABS-CBN chairman (P5.15 million)

Among the celebrities who paid their dues to the government include:

• Willie Revillame (P57 million)
• Sharon Cuneta (P19.55 million)
• Kris Aquino (P12.79 million)
• Piolo Pascual (P11.51 million)
• Marian Rivera (P10.12 million)
• John Lloyd Cruz (P8.59 million)
• Judy Ann Santos (P8.2 million)
• Manny Pacquiao (P7 million)
• Vic Sotto (P6.2 million)
• Sarah Geronimo (P4.8 million)

Boxing icon Manny Pacquiao was the top taxpayer in 2008 whose 10-percent tax totaled P125 million. Last year Pacquiao payed only P7 million, according to the BIR. The Top 10 corporate taxpayers include:

• Smart Communications (P10.2 billion)
• Globe Telecom (P5.49 billion)
• Chevron Malampaya (P4.19 billion)
• San Miguel Brewery (P3.58 billion)
• Nestle Philippines (P3.55 billion)
• PLDT (P3.53 billion)
• Pilipinas Shell (P3.24 billion)
• Meralco (P2.79 billion)
• Fortune Tobacco (P1.88 billion)
• SM (P1.82 billion)

The government tasked the bureau to collect P860 billion this year, but Henares conceded that that was too high. She said the original collection target of P830 billion was a more “doable target." — VS, GMANews.TV