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June 2014
TMAP MONITOR Investment Ombudsman’s fight against corruption
Atty. Paterno “Jun” B. Alarcon, Jr., discussed the mandate, structure and commitments of the New Investment Ombudsman office Representatives of the Investment Ombudsman led by Atty. Paterno Jun B. Alarcon, Jr. graced TMAP's June General Membership Meeting last June 25, 2014. Atty Alarcon briefed TMAP members on the mandate of the Investment Ombudsman. He noted that the Investment Ombudsman will handle matters concerning the private sector’s dealings and business transactions with the government. It will act on grievances of the public involving delay committed by any of the Investment Promotion agencies particularly the BOI and DTI
TMAP BOD poses with the Investment Ombudsman Team
Priority concerns of the Investment Ombudsman are: •
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Delay in the delivery of front line services relating to the establishment or conduct of business; Solicitation, demand or request by a government official in exchange of the issuance of licenses, permits and certificates, the release of shipments and cargoes, as well as arbitrary assessment of fees; Issuance of licenses, permits and certificates to
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TMAP Kapihan on VAT, Inurement and ICC On July 2, 2014, TMAP conducted a Kapihan Session to discuss the provisions of Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) 54-2014 (Clarifying Issues Relative to the Application for Value Added Tax (VAT) Refund/Credit), RMC No. 51-2014 (Clarifying the inurement prohibition under Section 30) and the requirements to secure importer’s clearance certificate.
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TMAP Member Atty. Arvin Agbayani led one of the discussions
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June 2014
News in pics
BOD Member Atty. Lea Roque delivered the welcome remarks
Atty. Ana MariaDel Rosario led the invocation and national anthem
Members sing the National Anthem
Representatives of the Investment Ombudsman during the Q&A
Induction of New Members
Atty Tita Flores shares her experience as the Investment Ombudsman during President Erap’s Term
President Rina shares her president’s report
TMAP visits Sen. Sonny Angara TMAP Board of Directors paid a courtesy call to Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Senator Sonny Angara last July 9, 2014. Leading the TMAP delegates was President Rina Reyes. She was joined by Attys. Omy Duran, Lea Roque and Prescy Valer. Senator Angara shared with TMAP the various tax bills which he has sponsored in the senate. Foremost among the bills is the amendment of the tax brackets which according to the Senator is “obsolete” in view of the changes in the minimum wage and prices of goods and commodities since the brackets were set in the 1980s.
Atty. Melody Macaraig-Binag with President Rina and Chairman of Membership Committee, Atty. Jewel Baga Continued on p.3
President Rina, on the other hand, shared the
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June 2014
New Members From page 2
Compliance and Payroll Outsourcing Divisions for Cebu and Davao Branches from 2006 to 2013. He is only 29 years old and is still single.
Atty. Melody Santiago Macaraeg-Binag or Melody is the Legal Counsel and Head of Tax Global-Estate Resorts, Inc. (Parent co is Megaworld, then Filestate, now Alliance Global of Andrew Tan in 2011). She is supervising 15 lawyers. She finished her law from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila. She was no. 4 in the Class of 2004. For her AB, she finished Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service, Major in Diplomacy from the Lyceum of the Philippines, cum laude. She was a dean’s lister. She has been in the tax accounting practice for 8 years. Before joining Global-Estate Resorts, Inc., she worked at KPMG Manabat Sanagustin & Co. from 2004-2011 as Tax Supervisor and subsequently, as Assistant Manager.
Atty. Ria Lidia G. Espina is presently the Asst. Vice President for Contract Management of Aboitiz Construction Group, Inc. She’s a CPA Lawyer. She finished her Bachelor of Science in Commerce, Major in Accountancy Magna Cum Laude, from the University of San Carlos and her law degree also as Magna Cum Laude from University of Cebu. She graduated as Class Valedictorian of the University of Cebu College of Law pioneering Batch 2006. She also has a Masters in Management from UP Cebu. She is still single.
For TMAP Cebu Atty. Stephen L. Yu is an Associate of Sycip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan. He’s a CPA Lawyer and has been working for 7 years. Before joining Sycip Salazar, he held various positions at the Punongbayan & Araullo’s Advisory &
Rosalie Z. Espina-Genabe is the Accounting Manager of Metaphil Intl. Inc, or the Aboitiz Construction Group. She’s a CPA. She graduated from the University of the Philippines with a degree in Bachelor of Science in Accountancy/BSBA (MGT). Before joining Aboitiz Construction, she was with First Glory Phil Inc. from 2005 to 2009, then she joined Aboitiz Construction in 2010. TMAP Visayas core team members for the relaunching of TMAP Visayas Chapter.
Past Presidents Leny and Euney and President Rina with TMAP Visayas Members
Relaunching of TMAP Visayas On June 27, TMAP President Rina Manuel and former Presidents Euney Mata-Perez and Leny Oxales headed to Cebu City to meet with the
TMAP Visayas shall be re-launched through a joint CPE-accredited tax seminar with PICPA, targeted in September 2014, which shall serve as a venue for the introduction of TMAP Visayas, recruitment of new members, fundraising and communication of the advocacy of TMAP. The TMAP Manila team shall assist TMAP Visayas for the content and speaker line-up. Also in the pipeline is a tax practice roadshow for Cebu law students to improve the awareness of the students of the existence and extent of tax practice in the Philippines. The relaunching of TMAP Visayas is included in the 2014 thrusts of TMAP to further enhance membership engagement and expand its advocacy to promote taxpayer’s rights and responsibilities.
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June 2014
TMAP Kapihan from page 1 • RMC 54-2014 was supposed to clarify the VAT refund application issues contemplated under the Supreme Court’s decisions in Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. San Roque Power Corp. and Mindanao II Geothermal Partnership v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue. However, said RMC did not confine itself to simply publishing the High Court’s interpretation of refund periods but introduced additional requirements not found under the law and provided that failure to appeal inaction of the BIR within 30 days from the lapse of the 120period shall render the inaction “deemed denial” as “final and unappealable”. The members proffered the following comments on the specific provisions of RMC 54-2014: • The current practice is that taxpayers continue to coordinate with the BIR on the processing of VAT refunds even after the 120-day reckoning period for the processing of claims or filing of judicial claim for refund with the Court of Tax Appeals. • The deemed denial of claims after 120-day inaction by the BIR will leave taxpayers with no other option but to appeal the claim to the CTA which will entail additional expenses in the form of docket fees and legal costs. • With the retroactive application of the rule on the mandatory appeal of BIR-unacted claims to “all pending claims for refund,” the taxpayers who did not elevate the claims judicially are left with no remedy. • There are several judicial decisions that it is the taxpayer, not BIR, who shall determine what documents are relevant to its claim. • There are several documentary requirements required by the BIR that are difficult to comply with.
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assistance to members Prohibition of donation to individuals by nonstock and/or non-profit entities The prohibition of distribution of assets to the members upon dissolution will affect entities that were granted income tax exemption on the basis of their nature as being formed exclusively for the benefit of its members and/or to address some specified requirements of its members (i.e. beneficiary society, cemetery company, farmer’s or other mutual typhoon or fire insurance company, etc.) Any inurement prohibitions may only strictly apply against non-stock and/or non-profit entities falling under Section 30 (E) and (F) of the Tax Code
Lastly, the members also shared their experiences in the processing of importer’s clearance certificate required under Revenue Memorandum Order 102014. Members cited the delays in securing of certified true copies of documents and certificate of good standing from the SEC because of the lack of coordination between the BIR and the SEC, slow processing of applications due to lack of BIR manpower, instances where application documents are misplaced by the BIR, requirement for the appearance of the authorized signatory even if secretary’s certificates on the authority are included in the documentary requirements, and the lack of readiness by the BIR to review and process the volume of documents. The inputs from this TMAP Kapihan session and the specific action plans will be communicated by TMAP to its members and the general public through press releases.
RMC 51-2014 expanded the definition of inurement which will disqualify corporations or association from the income tax exemption granted under Section 30 of the Tax Code. The discussion highlighted several provisions which need further clarification, as follows: • Inclusion of pension and retirement programs among the inurement prohibitions in connection with the provision of welfare aid and financial
Internal VP Atty. Randy Bello facilitated the discussions
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www.tmap.org.ph Investment Ombudsman from page 1
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any person not qualified for or legally entitled thereto; and Any delay or refusal to comply with the referral or directive of the Investment Ombudsman emanating from the grievance proceedings.
Complaints may be filed in any of the following manners: (a) directly with the Office of the Ombudsman, (b) telephone call, (c) online filing using the Ombudsman's website and (d) through the Facebook and twitter accounts of the Ombudsman. Upon receipt of the complaint, the Office may
June 2014 immediately call the attention of the designated person of the concerned agency to address the complaint or hold a conference with the complainant and the concerned government officer. The Investment Ombudsman may also conduct factfinding operations including entrapment operations in coordination with the NBI and issuance of subpoena as needed to perform its functions. Atty. Alarcon also noted that the office is very new and has been in place only starting June 1, 2014. The Investment Ombudsman expects the business community and the public in general to commit to ethical business practices and good corporate governance, and more importantly, report cases of corruption promptly.
Senator Angara from page 2 various taxpayer concerns particularly on estate tax, donor’s tax and taxpayers’ rights and responsibilities. As a result of the courtesy call, TMAP will submit to the office of Senator Angara, its position papers and comments on the pending tax bills as well as TMAP’s proposed bill on Magna Carta of Taxpayers’ Rights and Obligations.
The Tax
Management Association of the Philippines, Inc. is a non-stock corporation founded on October 22, 1981 established primarily to professionalize tax practice and provide a channel by which the private sector may actively participate in the drafting of tax laws, rules and regulations. At present, TMAP has over 100 members most of whom belong to, or act as consultants for, the top 1,000 corporations. The Association has been instrumental in the development and promotion of reforms in the country’s tax laws and in tax administration by actively participating in public hearings and submitting position papers in connection with the passage of revenue laws, rules and regulations. TMAP raises the level of professionalism and technical competence among its members by keeping them abreast of the latest tax
TMAP BOD poses with Senator Sonny Angara
rulings, regulations, issuances, decisions and policies through habitual seminars conducted by experts in government and in the private practice. The Association also conducts regular dialogues with pertinent government officials on policy issues affecting its members. TMAP has instilled and continues to instill among its members competence, professionalism and integrity in tax practice. TMAP believes that responsible tax practice is indispensable to the country’s economic growth and development.
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