The Department of Finance (DOF) is seeking a grant from the United States to establish the Philippines’ first tax academy envisioned to provide revenue officials and employees continuing professional education on tax collection competence and efficiency.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III pitched the project to David Malpass, U.S. Undersecretary of the Treasury for International Affairs, at a recent meeting in Washington, D.C.
Dominguez told Malpass that the DOF plans to set up the Philippine Tax Academy in January as a long-term initiative to professionalize the ranks of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
“Both (agencies) are under me and we’re doing short-term things, but really, in the long term, we need better skills, better ethics,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez said the planned tax academy will not involve constructing any new buildings but will just rent space in local community colleges and universities to save money, which Malpass said is a “good idea.”
Dominguez said the tax academy, which is mandated by law, will help initiate a “culture change” within the BIR and BOC by training revenue and customs officers to improve their efficiency and competencies in tax matters.
“We could use a lot of help from (the United States). You have a very good IRS (Internal Revenue Service) and Customs, and we can learn certainly a lot from you,” Dominguez told Malpass.
In his meetings with Malpass, Dominguez said he would like to transform the BIR and BOC into highly professionalized agencies where employees carry out their duties with honesty and integrity, the way U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents do.
“I want these guys (at the BIR and BOC) to be like your FBI, the men in black, who are going to collect taxes the right way, be honest. And really, it is a culture change that we are looking for. And we can benefit a lot from that,” Dominguez said.
DOF is now coordinating with the University of Philippines School of Economics and the University of Makati to explore possible tie-ups in setting up the country’s first tax academy.
The academy’s operations will be funded from excess income of the Bureau of Treasury, as recommended by the Department of Budget and Management.
Signed into law almost seven years ago during the 14th Congress, Republic Act No. 10143, or the Philippine Tax Academy Act, empowers the DOF to set up a tax academy to provide continuous training and education to personnel of the BIR, BOC, and the Bureau of Local Government Finance.
For its part, BOC is setting up its own Customs Academy where new hires will undergo training and character development before they become permanent employees.
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