The picture above is from the official Facebook page of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). I would be thinking about myself not questioning it. But as said, any democracy requires a critical mind to correct any flaws from the authorities. One of the issues I had in the past was the need to renew the Authority to Print (ATP) every five years. It's not like expired canned goods that wouldn't be validated. I have no problem with cash registers that need to be registered with the BIR. Cash registers, after all, produce the receipts which is the basis for the taxable income. Bookkeepers will need to take a look at the receipts, and write down the income for the month, businesses will end up paying value-added tax (VAT) if they reach a certain amount, and there are times that income taxes have to be increased or decreased depending on the situation.
I think I could pose a number of problems with the five-years expiry date after the pandemic had struck. It's time to name the following:
- People will print plenty of receipts because nobody knows when it will run out. However, time will come when people end up having to surrender bulks of receipt that were unused after the five-year ATP has ended. You can imagine the hassle that will create.
- Tenant profiling can be a lot more tedious than it has to be. Lessors will have to keep asking for the new ATP of tenants every five years. Renewing of contracts is one thing. I think making lessors have to collect new ATPs every five years from their tenants can be an unnecessary step.
- I think having so many unused receipts will cause more trees to be cut down. We need to work for environmentally sustainable business environments. Penalizing or even shutting down businesses that don't obey environmental rules is one thing. I think having to keep printing new receipts every five years and leaving a lot of unused receipts, unused, will make tree-cutting more necessary than it should.
Meanwhile, here is a few stuff that I believe will make it beneficial to get rid of the expiration of ATPS for good:
- Having the same ATP for a lifetime is the same as having the same driver's license for a lifetime. The difference is the driver's license expires after ten years. If a receipt is still legible, clear, and registered then why have the ATP expire after five years? It's not like a business permit that must be renewed yearly. The only time receipts should be surrendered is when a business closes or when a new receipt format is issued. Other than that, ATPs should remain as long as possible to avoid overcomplicating things.
- If there are fewer unused receipts surrendered then there will be fewer trees that need to be cut. As said, the only receipts that need to be surrendered are of businesses that are closing down for a reason. We need to focus on environmental conservation.
- There would be smoother work processes. The only thing entrepreneurs need to be concerned more about is our sales and if they have enough receipts to declare to the BIR. I think renewing ATPs would complicate the process. I believe this new revenue regulation will allow the BIR to focus on taxable income as well.
- I think the only time that the BIR has to be informed is when the business runs out of receipts. This isn't about issuing a new ATP but registering a new batch of freshly printed receipts to the BIR. I believe that only new batches of receipts need to be registered and not unused receipts getting surrendered because the ATP expired.
Pretty much, I hope we can find more hurdles to make business in the Philippines better. I salute the BIR for actually making this new revenue regulation.