Tips to Legally Avoid Paying BIR Penalties During Tax Mapping

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has been regularly conducting inspection to business establishments throughout the country. Such BIR activity is popularly known as “Tax Mapping” also referred to by the BIR as Tax Compliance Verification Drive and Oplan Kandado.

The purpose of the “tax mapping” is to inspect compliance of business establishments to registration, invoicing, bookkeeping and other rules and regulation of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Another important purpose of this is to catch tax evaders.

Tax mapping is usually done by the BIR representative unannounced. As such, thousands of business establishments have already been filed with charges on their violation during the Tax Compliance Verification Drive.

The charges on non-compliances or violation to BIR rules of business establishment ranges from penalties amounting to P1,000 to P50,000, depending on the nature and scope of the violation. Some violation, however, can lead to permanent closure of the business establishment, criminal charges on the owners or imprisonment.

In this article, we will enumerate tips to legally avoid paying penalties during BIR Tax Mapping.

Register your business to the BIR

Failure to register will cost you at least P20,000.00.

Pay Annual Registration Fee (BIR Form 0605) on before January 31 of each year

Failure to pay the Annual Registration Fee on due date will cost you at least P1,000.00

Display the following registration documents inside your business establishment where it can be easily seen

• BIR Certificate of Registration (BIR Form 2303)
• Annual Registration Fee for the Current Year (BIR Form 0605)
• Notice to the Public “ASK FOR RECEIPT” Signage

Failure to display these documents inside your business establishment will cost you at least P1,000.00.

Issue receipts/invoices for your sale of goods or services.

Failure or refusal to issue receipts/invoices will cost you

• 1st Offense: P10,000 (Failure) P25,000 (Refusal)
• 2nd Offense: P20,000 (Failure) P50,000 (Refusal)

Register your company’s manual receipts/invoices to the BIR

Failure to register will cost you from P1,000.000 to P50,000.00

Register your company’s Cash Registered Machine (CRM) and/or Point of Sales Machine (POS) or similar devices to the BIR

Failure to register will cost you as follows

• 1st Offense: P25,000.00/unit
• 2nd Offense: P50,000.00/unit

Attach or paste original sticker in the machine authorizing the use of the CRM/POS or similar device

Failure to attach or paste will cost you at least P1,000.00/unit

Register Books of Accounts to the BIR and maintain it in the business establishment

Failure to register and maintain books of accounts will cost you from P200.00 to P50,000.00 depending on Gross Sales or Receipts.

Record transactions to the book of accounts, also known as Bookkeeping

Failure to bookkeep or record will cost you from P200.00 to P50,000.00 depending on your Gross Sales or Receipts.

Withhold and remit the tax of the following to the BIR

• Compensation of Employees (BIR Form 1601C)
• Payments subject to final and expanded withholding tax (BIR Form 1601E)

Failure to withhold and remit taxes to the BIR will cost you at least P200.00 penalty depending on Gross Sales or Receipts

Pay and/or file business and income taxes monthly, quarterly and annually

Failure to pay or file the said taxes to the BIR will cost you at least P200.00 penalty depending on Gross Sales or Receipts

The BIR Oplan Kandado Program (Tax Mapping) is done quarterly. This is a sign that the BIR is really serious in disciplining taxpayers to comply with registration, bookkeeping and tax requirements of every business establishments.