Organization and Functions of the Excise Taxpayers Service Including the Divisions Under It Down to Section Level

August 7, 2000 REVENUE ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 09-00 SUBJECT : Organization and Functions of the Excise Taxpayers Service Including the Divisions Under It Down to Section Level TO : All Internal Revenue Officers and Others Concerned I. OBJECTIVE: This Order defines the organization and functions of the Excise Taxpayers Service including its divisions and sections pursuant to Executive Order No. 175 dated November 3, 1999 on Organizational Restructuring of the Bureau of Internal Revenue to Improve Administrative Control Over Certain Categories of Taxpayers. II. ORGANIZATION: The Excise Taxpayers Service shall be under the direct supervision of the Deputy Commissioner for Operations Group. It shall be headed by an Assistant Commissioner and shall be composed of the following divisions with their respective sections: A. Excise Taxpayers Assistance Division 1. Taxpayers Service Section 2. Taxpayers Information and Education Section 3. Permits and Bonds Section 4. ATRIG (Authority to Release Imported Goods) Section B. Excise Taxpayers Operations Division 1. Excise Taxpayers Audit Section 2. Tax Credit and Refund Section C. Excise Taxpayers Programs Division 1. Programs Development Section 2. Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Section 3. Research and Data Analysis Section D. Excise Taxpayers Document Processing and Quality Assurance Division 1. Document Processing Section 2. Quality Assurance Section In addition, the Excise Taxpayers Service shall have direct/functional supervision over the Excise Tax Areas (EXTAs). However, administrative control over the EXTAs shall be vested upon the Regional Office where the EXTA's station town is located. Excise Tax Areas (EXTAs) shall exercise operational control and supervision over Excise Taxpayers in the provinces or cities of the Regional Offices as follows: EXTAs Regional Office/s Station Town 1 1, 2 and 3 Baguio City 2 10 Legaspi City 3 11 and 12 Bacolod City 4 13 and 14 Cebu City 5 16 and 17 Cagayan de Oro City 6 15, 18 and 19 Davao City III. FUNCTIONS: EXCISE TAXPAYERS SERVICE shall: 1. Perform staff, advisory and consultative functions relative to assistance, collection, assessment, monitoring, supervision, computerized and non-computerized processing of data of Excise Taxpayers, stocktaking and inventory of exciseable products and raw materials including physical and chemical analysis of articles subject to internal revenue taxes; 2. Develop and administer policies, work programs, standards, guidelines and procedures relative to the abovementioned functions; 3. Provide policy guidance and operational directions to all divisions under the Service including Excise Tax Areas (EXTAs) relative to the abovementioned functions; 4. Administer the Excise Tax Reconciliation System (ETRS) specifically on the requirements for process improvement; 5. Provide one-stop-shop service to Excise Taxpayers; 6. Implement a taxpayer assistance program to cater to the needs of Excise Taxpayers; 7. Monitor compliance of Excise Taxpayers with the filing and payment requirements of the Bureau; 8. Undertake appropriate action on Excise Taxpayers tagged as non- filers or stop-filers; 9. Monitor the tax collections from Excise Taxpayers on a nationwide basis; 10. Conduct on-premises stocktaking, inventory of raw materials, goods in process, and finished products of Excise Taxpayers; 11. Conduct spot-checking in establishments where articles subject to excise taxes and/or inspection fees are kept or produced; 12. Conduct audit/investigation of all taxes of Excise Taxpayers; 13. Supervise the disposal of all types of wastages such as tobacco refuse, tobacco dusts, paper wastes, scraps, cuttings, clippings, tobacco sweepings of raw materials subject to excise taxes in coordination with the Excise Taxpayers Assistance Division; 14. Process tax returns/documents filed by Excise Taxpayers; 15. Process applications for tax credit/refund and recommend for approval of the CIR thru DCIR Operations; 16. Refer collection of delinquent accounts to the Collection Service for the administration of summary remedies; 17. Review reports of investigation on audit of Excise Taxpayers prior to submitting them to the Deputy Commissioner, Operations Group for disposition; 18. Recommend necessary tax laws and regulations on the basis of its operations; 19. Designate excise tax personnel to perform functions relative to special assignments on excise tax administration, whenever necessary; 20. Monitor and evaluate performance of Revenue Officers assigned on premises and prepare the appropriate assignment orders for their reshuffle for approval of authorized official; 21. Act as Chairman in the Committee created for the purpose of supervising all requests for denaturing of alcohol in the distillery plants; 22. Coordinate with the other services concerned to ensure that the Excise Taxpayers programs are consistent with the overall programs of the Bureau; 23. Coordinate with proper offices in the implementation of the abovementioned functions; 24. Monitor, evaluate and improve programs and activities under the responsibility of the Service; 25. Review, recommend and/or approve all reports and other actions of the divisions under the Service including the EXTAs; 26. Consolidate and/or prepare prescribed reports .for submission to the offices concerned; and 27. Perform such other related functions as may be assigned. Excise Tax Areas shall 1. Implement in the area of operation established policies, programs and activities relating to the administration of all laws and regulations relative to excise taxpayers; 2. Process applications for registration, updating of registration records and other applications and registration requirements of Excise Taxpayers within its area of jurisdiction; 3. Evaluate, review and recommend approval of application .for Permit to Operate of Excise Taxpayers within its area of jurisdiction; 4. Process application for issuance of all other permits incidental to the operations of Excise Taxpayers, surety bonds required in connection with the manufacture, importation or exportation of articles subject to excise tax, ATRIG and such other permits authorized under existing revenue regulations; 5. Issue to excise taxpayers approved basic permits, regulatory permits and requisitions for revenue labels, strip stamps, withdrawal certificates, official delivery invoices, official register books, transcript sheets and other forms needed; 6. Undertake tax information dissemination and education campaigns for Excise Taxpayers within its area of jurisdiction; 7. Monitor compliance of Excise Taxpayers within its area of jurisdiction with the filing of required tax returns and other documents, and payment of taxes and pertinent fees thereon; 8. Monitor collection of all taxes from Excise Taxpayers; 9. Process tax returns/documents filed by Excise Taxpayers; 10. Conduct audit of all taxes of Excise Taxpayers under its jurisdiction; 11. Process and recommend approval of all claims for tax credit/refund of Excise Taxpayers within its area of jurisdiction except those processed by the Legal Division; 12. Supervise establishments where articles subject to excise tax are made or kept; 13. Gather and collate statistical reports on establishments within a particular area with respect to exciseable products including raw materials such as molasses, alcohol, leaf tobacco, bobbins, strip stamps, internal revenue labels and stock of oil products, etc.; 14. Perform all other regulatory functions for Excise Taxpayers under its jurisdiction; 15. Coordinate with the proper offices in the implementation of the abovementioned functions; 16. Prepare prescribed reports for submission to the offices concerned; and 17. Perform such other related functions as may be assigned. A. EXCISE TAXPAYERS ASSISTANCE DIVISION shall: 1. Implement policies, work programs, standards, guidelines and procedures relative to Excise Taxpayers assistance programs; 2. Undertake tax information dissemination and education campaigns for Excise Taxpayers; 3. Process applications for registration, updating of registration records and other applications and registration requirements of Excise Taxpayers prescribed by regulation; 4. Provide on-premises assistance to Excise Taxpayers establishments; 5. Establish an Excise Taxpayers feedback system to determine other areas of concern; 6. Prepare and maintain an updated status report of all requests for tax refund/credit of Excise Taxpayers; 7. Recommend measures to enhance taxpayer service consistent with the overall taxpayer assistance program of the Bureau; 8. Coordinate with the proper offices in the implementation of the abovementioned functions; 9. Prepare prescribed reports for submission to the offices concerned; and 10. Perform such other related functions as may-be assigned. 1. Taxpayers Service Section shall: 1.1. Receive from Excise Taxpayers and transmit to offices concerned all required BIR forms and attachments for the processing of all kinds of applications, requests and correspondence; 1.2. Process applications for registration/cancellation of registration/transfer of registration of Excise Taxpayers; 1.3. Process applications for taxpayer record update, modification of taxpayers' information, registration of books of accounts, including authority to print receipts, registration of cash register machines and such other registration requirements prescribed by regulation; 1.4. Provide on-premises assistance to Excise Taxpayers establishments; 1.5. Attend to queries/problems of Excise Taxpayers; 1.6. Distribute tax forms to Excise Taxpayers; 1.7. Check the completeness, correctness and validity of accomplished tax returns of Excise Taxpayers before filing and payment is made with AABs; 1.8. Conduct inspection of establishments to check the veracity of declarations made on filed application forms for registration of identified Excise Taxpayers; 1.9. Send to Excise Taxpayers reminder letters in advance regarding tax payment deadlines; 1.10. Generate and issue to Excise Taxpayers ITS-generated correspondences such as but not limited to Certificate of Registration, Authority to Print Receipts and Invoices and Tax Clearance Certificate; 1.11. Distribute/issue to taxpayers all other kinds of certificates/authorities and permits including stickers for cash register, Tax Credit/Refunds Certificates, Transfer Confirmation Notice and TIN Cards generated by ISOS; 1.12. Resolve ITS registration related suspense files referred by Excise Taxpayers Document Processing and Quality Assurance Division; 1.13. Identify unregistered Excise Taxpayers and require them to comply with existing revenue rules and regulations; and 1.14. Perform such other related functions as may be assigned. 2. Taxpayers Information and Education Section shall: 2.1. Provide information/education to Excise Taxpayers relative to laws and issuances affecting them and disseminate necessary information materials; 2.2. Initiate the conduct of seminars, fora and the likes on matters affecting Excise Taxpayers; 2.3. Coordinate with Taxpayer Assistance Service and other offices concerned for the provision of resource speakers to disseminate tax laws, revenue issuances and information relative to/affecting Excise Taxpayers; 2.4. Establish taxpayers' feedback system to determine other areas of concern of Excise Taxpayers; and 2.5. Perform such other related functions as may be assigned. 3. Permits and Bonds Section shall: 3.1. Process and recommend for approval of authorized official basic permits of Excise Taxpayers; 3.2. Process and recommend for approval of the authorized official all other permits incidental to the operations of exciseable establishments, and/or authorized under existing revenue regulations; 3.3. Process and recommend the approval, renewal or cancellation of bonds filed by Excise Taxpayers; and 3.4. Perform such other related functions as may be assigned. 4. ATRIG Section shall: 4.1. Process and recommend for approval of authorized official requests for issuance of ATRIG to Excise Taxpayers; 4.2. Coordinate with the Bureau of Customs and other offices-regarding release of imported goods; 4.3. Prepare summary reports on the ATRIG issued including quantity/volume of imported goods; 4.4. Refer to the BIR Laboratory for chemical analysis and determination of alcohol contents/grade, additives, flavors and derivatives of imported goods subject to ATRIG; and 4.5. Perform such other related functions-as may be assigned. B. EXCISE TAXPAYERS OPERATIONS DIVISION shall: 1. Implement policies, work programs, standards, guidelines and procedures relative to assessment and processing of tax credits and refunds of Excise Taxpayers; 2. Maintain the Excise Tax Reconciliation System (ETRS) on the requirements for process improvement; 3. Conduct audit/investigation of all taxes of Excise Taxpayers; 4. Conduct investigation of cases involving reported violations of excise tax laws and regulations and/or non-payment of excise taxes or inspection fees; 5. Conduct investigation of establishments where articles subject to excise taxes and/or inspection fees are kept or produced with the end in view of determining their proper tax liabilities and for compliance with the existing laws, rules and regulations; 6. Conduct verification of sworn statements, transcript sheets of the Official Register Books (ORB), Withdrawal Certificates and Official Delivery Invoices; 7. Process and recommend approval of all claims for tax credit/refund of Excise Taxpayers except those processed by the Legal Service; 8. Act on all letters of protest, request for re-investigation and similar communications; 9. Coordinate with the proper offices in the implementation of the abovementioned functions; 10. Prepare prescribed reports for submission to the offices concerned; and 11. Perform such other related functions as may be assigned. 1. Excise Taxpayers Audit Section shall: 1.1. Conduct audit/investigation of all taxes of Excise Taxpayers and prepare corresponding report of investigation; 1.2. Conduct investigation of cases involving reported violations of excise tax laws and regulations and/or non-payment of excise taxes or inspection fees; 1.3. Conduct investigation of establishments where articles subject to excise taxes and/or inspection fees are kept or produced with the end in view of determining their proper tax liabilities and compliance with the existing laws, rules and regulations; 1.4. Act on all letters of protest, requests for reinvestigation and similar communications; 1.5. Conduct verification of sworn statements, transcript sheets of Official Register Books (ORBs), Withdrawal Certificates and Official Delivery Invoices; 1.6. Conduct verification on the request for retirement from business of manufacturers and importers of raw materials and articles subject to excise tax and dealers of leaf tobacco; 1.7. Impose necessary penalties for late filing/payment and filing at wrong venue and issue corresponding reminder letter/assessment notice to Excise Taxpayers concerned; 1.8. Supervise the BIR Laboratory which shall undertake the following functions: 1.8.1. Undertake physical and chemical analysis of articles subject to internal revenue taxes; 1.8.2. Undertake research and study procedures on methods of laboratory analysis; 1.8.3. Develop and recommend standards for denaturants and other requirements in the manufacture and classification of products subject to excise tax; 1.8.4. Recommend specification requirements for materials to be used in the- printing of strip stamps, BIR labels, receipts and other accountable forms; 1.8.5. Conduct analysis of BIR labels, strip stamps, documentary stamps and other accountable forms referred by the different offices of the Bureau, other government agencies and taxpayers to determine their authenticity; 1.8.6. Define chemical or technical terms necessary in the formulation and/or revision of tax laws and regulations; 1.8.7. Appear as government witness in court hearings on matters within their competence; 1.8.8. Maintain systematic records of all results of laboratory analysis undertaken for future reference; and 1.9. Perform such other related functions as may be assigned. 2. Tax Credit and Refund Section shall: 2.1. Process, audit and recommend approval of all claims for tax credit/refund of taxes paid except those processed by the Legal Service and prepare tax credit certificate/voucher for approval of authorized official; 2.2. Process and recommend approval of all claims for tax credit/refund on excise taxes paid filed by embassies/legates, AFPCESS, PNPSSS and other tax-exempt entities and prepare tax credit certificate/voucher for approval of authorized official; 2.3. Act on protest involving factual issues on claims for tax credit/refund and similar communications; 2.4. Process tax dockets of capital gains tax transactions for shares of stocks of Excise Taxpayers for issuance of necessary TCL/CAR by ETAD; 2.5. Prepare and maintain an updated listing of tax-exempt entities subject to excise tax and names of countries granting reciprocal exemptions of Philippine International Carriers; and 2.6. Perform such other related functions as may be assigned. C. EXCISE TAXPAYERS PROGRAMS DIVISION shall: 1. Develop policies, work programs, standards, guidelines and procedures relative to Excise Taxpayers administration; 2. Monitor and evaluate implementation of the overall programs of the Service; 3. Develop audit selection criteria for Excise Taxpayers; 4. Establish criteria for the evaluation of performance of all divisions within the Service including the EXTAs; 5. Monitor and evaluate performance of the divisions within the Service including the EXTAs vis-a-vis performance targets; 6. Maintain and update Manual of Audit Procedures for Excise Taxpayers Service in coordination with the ET Operations Division; 7. Monitor collection of all taxes from Excise Taxpayers on a nationwide basis; 8. Monitor compliance of Excise Taxpayers with the filing of required tax returns and other documents, and payment of taxes and pertinent fees thereon; 9. Maintain a system of recording and analyzing tax data on excise taxpayers and submit required management and statistical reports; 10. Recommend necessary tax legislations or amendments to tax laws and revenue issuances relative to excise taxpayers administration; 11. Establish Excise Taxpayers Profile; 12. Conduct study/research and recommend work process improvements for effective administration of Excise Taxpayers; 13. Coordinate with the services concerned to ensure that the Excise Taxpayers Service programs are consistent with the overall programs of the Bureau; 14. Coordinate with the proper offices in the implementation of the abovementioned functions; 15. Prepare revenue issuances relative to the abovementioned functions; 16. Prepare prescribed reports for submission to the offices concerned; and 17. Perform such other related functions as may be assigned. 1. Programs Development Section shall: 1.1. Formulate policies, work programs, standards, guidelines and procedures on taxpayers assistance, collection and assessment, including stocktaking procedures and processing of data relative to Excise Taxpayers; 1.2. Develop Excise Taxpayers audit selection criteria and prepare the annual audit program of the Service; 1.3. Recommend amendments to tax laws and revenue issuances concerning Excise Taxpayers; 1.4. Establish criteria and devise techniques for the evaluation of the performance of the Divisions under the Service and the EXTAs relative to the implementation of programs of the Service; 1.5. Coordinate with Taxpayer Assistance Service, Collection Service, Assessment Service and Information Systems Group to ensure that the Excise Taxpayers programs on taxpayer assistance, information and education, collection, assessment and data processing are consistent with the overall programs of the Bureau; 1.6. Prepare revenue issuances/forms relative to policies and programs on excise taxpayers; and 1.7. Perform such other related functions as may be assigned. 2. Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Section shall: 2.1. Review projects/programs on Excise Taxpayers to ascertain whether or not results are consistent with established objectives and goals and whether or not such projects/programs are being implemented as planned; 2.2. Monitor and evaluate performance of the EXTAs and divisions within the Service vis-a-vis established work programs, criteria, performance targets and devised techniques; 2.3. Conduct spot-checking of Revenue Officers assigned on premises in the. exciseable establishments to determine, compliance with the established rules and regulations; 2.4. Recommend to the Programs Development Section measures to improve overall performance of the EXTAs and divisions of the Service relative to excise taxpayers administration programs; 2.5. Coordinate with the Services/Offices concerned to ensure that the Excise Taxpayers program on performance monitoring and evaluation is consistent with the overall program of the Bureau; 2.6. Monitor compliance of Excise Taxpayers with the filing of required tax returns and other documents and payment of taxes and pertinent fees thereon; 2.7. Validate and monitor, the stop-filers/non-filers list and system generated notices received from ET Document Processing and Quality Assurance Division; 2.8. Recommend imposition of necessary penalties for late filing/payment and filing at wrong venue for concerned taxpayers to ET Operations Division; 2.9. Send reminder letters to stop-filers/non-filers; 2.10. Pursue contact to taxpayers who have not complied with the reminder letter/assessment notices until compliance is effected; 2.11. Monitor collection of all taxes from Excise Taxpayers on a nationwide basis; 2.12. Refer delinquent taxpayers to the Collection Enforcement Division of the Collection Service; 2.13. Coordinate with the Bureau of Customs, and other agencies relative to the collection of excise tax and all other tax types of excise taxpayers; 2.14. Coordinate with AABs and monitor their compliance with prescribed procedures relative to the collection function; 2.15. Reconcile tax collection reports of AABs for Excise Taxpayers with the report on remittances from the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) and with data from validated tax returns/payment forms; 2.16. Submit reconciled report of collections from Excise Taxpayers to Collection Service and other offices concerned; and 2.17. Perform such other related functions as may be assigned. 3. Research and Data Analysis Section shall: 3.1. Conduct study/research on current trends relative to Excise Taxpayers administration; 3.2. Analyze data on collection/assessment and other statistical reports and information relative to Excise Taxpayers and prepare required management reports; 3.3. Prepare statistical tables and trends on collection from Excise Taxpayers for use in the preparation of collection goals/projections; 3.4. Identify potential Excise Taxpayers and establish an Excise Taxpayers profile; 3.5. Coordinate with the Statistics Division regarding adjustments in collection goals; and 3.6. Perform such other related functions as may be assigned. D. EXCISE TAXPAYERS DOCUMENT PROCESSING AND QUALITY ASSURANCE DIVISION shall: 1. Implement and direct the established document processing system and quality measurement standards to ensure integrity of excise taxpayers data; 2. Test and implement procedures and techniques to receive, control, edit, batch and code tax related documents received from internal and external agencies; 3. Provide ETS and other concerned offices with regular ITS and required ad-hoc reports and correspondence; 4. Ensure that the collection, storage and dissemination of all types of information are administered in such a way that data become a standardized resource available to all offices in the Excise Taxpayers Service and other concerned offices of the Bureau; 5. Ensure quality systems operations by implementing comprehensive quality assurance procedures and standards; 6. Coordinate with ISOS on the generation of regular ITS reports and correspondence for all Excise Taxpayers transactions; 7. Coordinate with Revenue Data Centers (RDCs), AABs and other entities regarding Excise Taxpayers data processing requirements; 8. Provide maximum physical security and disaster protection for computer installations within ETS; 9. Coordinate with ISOS the maintenance support on computer equipment used by all offices in the ETS; 10. Establish a periodic system review for quality measurement and integrity of inputs/outputs to ensure that prescribed quality production and information controls are in place; 11. Recommend research and development programs to improve productivity in coordination with ET Programs Division (ETPD); 12. Recommend necessary technical training programs for quality assurance and document processing personnel in coordination with ETPD, Information Planning and Quality Service (IPQS) and Training Management Division of HRDS; 13. Coordinate with the proper offices in the implementation of the abovementioned functions; 14. Prepare prescribed reports for submission to offices concerned; and 15. Perform such other related functions as may be assigned. 1. Document Processing Section shall: 1.1. Receive from designated AABs the required original and duplicate copies of Batch Control Sheets (BCSs) for ETs together with the corresponding tax returns/payment forms and attachments; 1.2. Sort and establish batch controls for tax documents received based on parameters set by ITS and assign Document Locator Number (DLN); 1.3. Pre-process tax documents as to readability, completeness and accuracy of information; 1.4. Analyze tax documents for bank procedural errors and prepare Bank Branch Performance Statistics reflecting therein the errors committed by AAB-Branches and forward it to Quality Assurance Section; 1.5. Encode data from source documents into computer acceptable media in accordance with prescribed guidelines; 1.6. Prepare ad hoc reports and correspondence on excise taxpayers transaction; 1.7. Monitor all data conversion jobs to ensure prompt action according to set priorities; 1.8. Safekeep/store copies of tax returns and other attachments filed by taxpayers under the Excise Taxpayers Service; 1.9. Coordinate with the ISOS maintenance support on computer equipment-used by all offices in the ETS; 1.10. Coordinate with RDCs and other entities regarding Excise Taxpayers data processing requirements; 1.11. Coordinate with ISOS on the generation of regular ITS reports and correspondence on excise taxpayers; 1.12. Provide maximum physical security and disaster protection for computer installations within the ETS; and 1.13. Perform such other related functions as may be assigned. 2. Quality Assurance Section shall: 2.1 Implement comprehensive quality assurance procedures and standards for the operations of information systems on Excise Taxpayers; 2.2. Analyze and resolve errors which data capture system has not been able to successfully process; 2.3. Prepare forms or correspondence to offices concerned to obtain clarification and/or missing information necessary for the perfection of tax returns/reports; 2.4. Undertake quality verification of notices, correspondence and other ITS-generated reports prior to issuance/mailing; 2.5. Analyze discrepancy/ies and determine document processing problems; 2.6. Analyze suspense problems encountered in the various stages of operations regarding the processing of tax accounts;