GLIMPSE OF A CPA'S MIND

Since the COVID-19 pandemic started wreaking havoc over a year ago, government and private organizations have implemented flexible work arrangements allowing employees to work remotely. Working from home during a lockdown helped ensure employee safety and minimize the impact of government restrictions on business operations. However, this off-site work setup has its challenges in transactional communications. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) slashed its 2020 revenue goal twice due to the expected slowdown in the collection of deficiency taxes and difficulty in conducting tax audits, in part because of the communication hurdles between the BIR and the taxpayers posed by the alternative work arrangements. With the BIR tasked this year to collect a staggering PHP2.1 trillion in support of the country’s continuing fight against COVID-19, taxpayers should expect more aggressive BIR efforts on tax assessments. As the pandemic is far from ending soon and with off-site work arrangements ev...

A YEAR AGO... Year 2020, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 19-2020 , prescribing the use of BIR Form No. 1709 (Related Party Transactions Form). The RR requires all taxpayers with related party transactions to submit the form and other supporting documents as an attachment to their annual income tax return (AITR) for the taxable year (TY) 2020 and subsequent TYs. Following this initiative, the BIR received a lot of clamor from taxpayers, particularly on incurring additional costs just to comply with the new RR. In response, the BIR issued RR 34-2020 in December 2020 to streamline the guidelines by providing safe harbors and materiality thresholds for this transfer pricing (TP) requirement. Based on this RR, the TP Documentation (TPD) and other supporting documents no longer needs to be attached to the form but must be submitted within 30 days upon request during an audit. Revenue Memorandum Circulars (RMC) were also released to address frequently ...

An average of 7.4 Million Foreign Nationals are visiting the Philippines every year before Covid-19 THE PANDEMIC HITS US GLOBALLY, not only Filipinos. To address numerous pleas and requests for reconsideration from foreign nationals, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) recently issued an Advisory, allowing a six-month non-extendible grace period to file applications for renewal/extension of their working, student, or resident visas, which expired from 16 March 2020 up to 4 July 2021. The filing period of the extension applications is until 30 November; otherwise, those illegally staying in the country will be subject to deportation proceedings. This Advisory does not, however, apply to expired tourist visas without an extension request. This new Advisory is a welcome development to foreign nationals, who were stranded, or opted to stay in the country to continue their assignment or work but, for one reason or another, failed to get an extension of their visas. The paradox of an expired vis...

As you begin your college career at your preferred, you will want to pause to think about ways to strengthen your academic writing. There are certainly lots of ways to do this, and each of you will have a different relationship to writing. Some of you will feel that this is a strength of yours to be further strengthened, and some of you will feel it's a weakness that you know you need to work on. Whatever your experience, there is no doubt that you will need to take writing at the college level seriously, simply because every course will require you to write a great deal. As soon as you start your first class, you will be required to start writing immediately in your Learning Journal , Discussion Forums , Assignments , and Peer Assessments .  So let's begin to think about academic writing systematically.  Here are the 8 questions to review every time you sit down to write .  They are guiding principles for you as you begin your studies during college days, and our hope is...

When you are in your college years or about to graduate, you might wonder about whether or not you should take a business internship. Sometimes, when you graduate from college, you may not have sufficient experience to get a full-time job. So, an internship (more popularly known as On-the-Job Training ) may be your best option. Why Internship in the First Place? An internship is a program (also known OJT program) that is offered by many companies to possible employees. Interns can work either part or full time for businesses, nonprofits and even governmental organizations. Internships are very popular with both undergraduate and graduate students. They usually last between one month (160 hours) and four months (720 hours). The goal of an internship is to gain practical experience or research-related experience. Internships can be either paid or unpaid. If the internship is unpaid, that does not mean that your working experiences will not be great. If it is paid, then you are lucky! Con...

REVENUE MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 97-2021: Taxing the Income of Social Media Influencers BIR issued last August 16, 2021, the Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 97-2021 , which clarifies the taxation of income received by Social Media Influencers. This is to promote the regularity of the business by doing Social Media Influencer Marketing scheme.  In previous years, companies would hire celebrities to appear in a TV commercial or to pose on a billboard just to market their products and to reach a wider audience. With social media influencer marketing, a brand or company can now easily promote its products or business through sponsored posts or by partnering with influencers and placing ads on any content of its choice, preferably on the channel of influencers with a significant number of followers, among others. Influencer marketing has thus become a vital part of the marketing strategies of these companies and the new norm for digital marketing , being one of the most effective ways no...

Revenue Memorandum Circular Nos. 92 and 93-2021 issued on August 09, 2021 This Tax Alert is issued to inform all concerned taxpayers on the extended deadline for filing of letters, replies, position papers, protests, and documents related to on-going BIR assessments , and VAT refund applications falling due during the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) and Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) period, including extensions thereof, as well as, the suspension of the running of the statute of limitations for assessment and collection of taxes during such period/s. The extended deadlines are as follows: Face-to-face meetings of BIR officials and employees with taxpayers and/or authorized representatives in areas under ECQ/MECQ, are likewise deferred and rescheduled until the lifting of ECQ and/or MECQ. Moreover, the running of the statute of limitations for assessment and collection of deficiency taxes is suspended in affected areas while ECQ and/or MECQ is in effect , and for si...

IASB Finalizes Amendments to IAS 1 and the Materiality Practice Statements Background The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has issued 'Disclosure of Accounting Policies (Amendments to IAS 1 and IFRS Practice Statement 2)' with amendments that are intended to help preparers in deciding which accounting policies to disclose in their financial statements. The amendments are effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023. The feedback on the Board's DP on Principles of Disclosure suggested that guidance is required to assist entities in determining which accounting policies to disclose. It was noted that the application of materiality is key to deciding which accounting policies to disclose, however, IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements does not refer to materiality but states that an entity shall disclose its significant accounting policies' without the Board providing a definition for the term ‘significant’. Therefore, the Board ...

Estate Tax Amnesty availment extended until June 14, 2023 (Revenue Regulations No. 17-2021 issued on August 4, 2021) This tax alert is issued to inform all concerned taxpayers on the extension of the availment period for Estate Tax Amnesty under Republic Act (RA) No. 11569 and certain amendments/clarifications on the process of availment of estate tax amnesty. The period of availment of Estate Tax Amnesty is extended until June 14, 2023 pursuant to RA No. 11569, amending RA No. 11213. Duly accomplished and sworn Estate Tax Amnesty Return (ETAR) and Acceptance Payment Form (APF) with proof of payment , together with the complete documentary requirements, shall be submitted to the RDO in triplicate copies. Failure to submit the same until June 14, 2023 is tantamount to non-availment of the Estate Tax Amnesty. The following amendments/clarifications to the existing rules on availment of Estate Tax Amnesty are also provided by the BIR: Within five (5) working days from receipt of ETAR, ...

BIR EXTENDS THE DEADLINE DUE TO ECQ RESTRICTIONS TO PREVENT COVID-19 DELTA VARIANT FROM SPREADING The Philippines taxing authority extends the deadline of filing and payment of taxes and submission of reports falling within the period from August 06 to August 20, 2021 for taxpayers under ECQ and/or MECQ. Deadlines are extended fifteen (15) days from the date of lifting ECQ/MECQ.  The following regular tax returns are affected during this ECQ/MECQ period: a. Filing and payment of BIR form 1601C (WC) - due date August 10, 2021 b. Filing and payment of BIR form 0619E (EWT) - due date August 10, 2021 c. Filing and payment of  BIR form 1600 (VAT/ PT withheld)  - due date August 10, 2021 d. Filing and payment of  BIR form 0621 (Taxes Withheld on Withdrawn Amounts from Decedent's Deposit Account)  - due date August 10, 2021 e. Filing and payment of  BIR form 1606 (Onerous Transfer of Real Property other than Capital Asset)  - due date August 10, 2021 f. Fil...

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