Surrender of Science Stamps in the Possession of Private Persons and Entities

August 24, 1978 REVENUE MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 065-78 SUBJECT : Surrender of Science Stamps in the Possession of Private Persons and Entities TO : All Internal Revenue Officers and Others Concerned In view of the repeal of Section 4 of Republic Act 5448 thereby discontinuing the use of science stamps, the following procedure on what to do with the science stamps in the possession of private persons or entities is hereby promulgated to the guidance of all concerned: I. SCOPE. All science stamps in the possession of private persons shall be surrendered to the Bureau of Internal Revenue for the refund of the face value thereof, not later than September 15, 1978. II. WHERE TO SURRENDER SCIENCE STAMPS . A. All persons whose places of business are outside Metro Manila shall surrender the science stamps to the Revenue District Officer of the district where his or its place of business is located. B. Those whose residences or places of business are within Metro Manila shall surrender the science stamps to the Chief, Accountable Forms Division, BIR Building, Diliman, Quezon City. III. PROCEDURE. A. The person in possession of the science stamps for surrender shall prepare a listing of the quantity of the said stamps by denominations. B. He shall prepare xerox copies of the vouchers or evidences used in the purchase of science stamps to be surrendered. C. Said xerox copies or other evidences shall be subject to verification by internal revenue officers. D. A statement to accompany the science stamps surrendered shall be prepared containing the following information: 1. Name of purchaser; 2. Address; 3. Taxpayer account number; 4. Regional Office where the stamps were purchased as well as the date of purchase; and 5. Quantity and face value of the surrendered science stamps according to denominations. E. The stamps, statement and vouchers shall be surrendered to the Revenue District Officer or the Chief, Accountable Forms Division, as the case may be, who shall in turn issue a receipt for the quantity and face value of the surrendered science stamps. F. The original of the receipt shall be given to the person who surrendered the stamps. The duplicate of the receipt shall be attached to the surrendered stamps and the triplicate shall be kept by the Chief, Accountable Forms Division or Revenue District Officer, for their respective files. G. The surrendered stamps shall be placed in an envelope or other container to accommodate the stamps and sealed. H. The Revenue District Officer or Chief, Accountable Forms Division, as the case may be, and the taxpayer or his duly authorized representative shall place their respective signatures across the flap of the envelope or container certifying to the correctness of the contents. I. The Revenue District Officer shall personally bring the science stamps surrendered to him to the Regional Director who shall issue the corresponding receipt. The Regional Director shall in turn deliver personally the surrendered stamps to the Chief, Accountable Forms Division. J. The stamps brought by the Regional Director shall be checked in the presence of the Regional Director; Chief, Accountable Forms Division; representative of the Fiscal Control Division; and a representative of the Accounting Division. K. After the stamps had been verified as to the correctness of the quantity and the corresponding denomination, a receipt shall be issued by the Chief, Accountable Forms Division to the Regional Director. L. The stamps surrendered by the Regional Director, together with the science stamps directly surrendered to the Chief, Accountable Forms Division shall be stored separately from all other accountable forms. It should not be mixed with the surrendered stamps of the BIR personnel. M. As the stamps are received by the Chief, Accountable Forms Division from taxpayers or from Regional Directors, he shall inform the Chief, Laboratory Section that there are stamps surrendered ready for laboratory testing. N. The following procedures shall be followed in the laboratory testing of the stamps: 1. Only samples by denomination and not all the stamps shall be given to the Chief, Laboratory Section for testing. In case where additional samples are needed, a request should be made by the Chief, Laboratory Section to the Chief, Accountable Forms Division and the latter shall make available the requested quantity of additional stamps for testing. 2. Selection of the stamps to be tested shall be made by opening the containers of the surrendered stamps in the presence of the Chief, Fiscal Control Division; Chief, Accounting Division; and the Chief, Laboratory Section. The samples to be tested shall be selected by the Chief of the Laboratory Section which shall be separated from the main batch and given to him duly receipted for. 3. Under no circumstances shall the whole batch of surrendered science stamps of a particular taxpayer be given to the Chief, Laboratory Section for testing unless the latter requests it. In such case, authority should be secured from the Deputy Commissioner of Internal Revenue. 4. After the Chief of the laboratory Section has taken the stamps to be tested, the remainder of the batch identified by taxpayer shall be kept separately from the other surrendered stamps which are yet to be laboratory tested. aisa dc 5. The testing shall be made on a taxpayer to taxpayer basis. 6. The Chief of the Laboratory Section who may be conducting simultaneous laboratory testing of stamps of various taxpayers shall see to it that they are properly identified and not mixed up. O. The Chief, Laboratory Section shall prepare a separate report on the results of the testing for each taxpayer who surrendered science stamps. The report shall be forwarded to the Chief, Accountable Forms Division stating therein its findings and recommendations. P. The Chief, Accountable Forms Division upon receipt of the report of testing shall consolidate each report with the remainder of the stamps and shall file them separately from all the other stamps properly labelled that the testing has been finished. Q. From the bunch of stamps wherein the testing had been finished, he shall classify them further by separating those to be refunded from those which will not be refunded. IV. VERIFICATION OF PURCHASE OF SCIENCE STAMPS . A. The Revenue District Officer to whom the science stamps have been surrendered shall assign the xerox copies of the vouchers and other related documents presented by the taxpayer to the examiners in the district for verification from the records of the taxpayer. B. The Chief, Accountable Forms Division who receive the surrendered stamps from taxpayers in the Metro Manila Area shall forward the vouchers or xerox copies thereof and other related documents to the Chief, Tax Fraud Division for verification. C. After verification, the report of the Revenue District Officer and the Chief, Tax Fraud Division regarding the verification of the vouchers for purchase of the stamps shall be forwarded to the Chief, Accountable Forms Division for consolidation with the laboratory testing. D. When the laboratory report and the report of verification of vouchers have been received by the Chief, Accountable Forms Division, he shall forward the papers of each case to the Chief, Indirect Taxes Division. V. REFUND . A. The papers forwarded to the Chief, Indirect Taxes Division shall be processed to determine whether a refund is due to the taxpayer and the amount thereof. B. If the findings after processing do not merit a refund, such information shall be communicated to the taxpayer. C. After determination of the amount to be refunded, a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner shall be prepared recommending the refund. D. Upon approval of the recommendation, the papers shall be forwarded to the Accounting Division for preparation of the voucher and the treasury warrant. VI. DISPOSITION OF SURRENDERED STAMPS . A. After the refund has been made, the stamps shall be destroyed by burning or recycling under the supervision of a BIR Committee and in the presence of the representative of the Commission on Audit. B. The BIR Committee shall be composed of the following: 1. Revenue Service Chief (Inspection) Chairman 2. Chief, Accountable Forms Division Member 3. Representative of the Commissioner Member VII. EFFECTIVITY . The provisions of this Revenue Memorandum Circular shall be effective immediately and shall be given a wide publicity as possible. aisa dc EFREN I. PLANA Acting Commissioner