Preparation of an Up-to-date List of Delinquent Accounts as of July 1, 1964

April 17, 1964 REVENUE MEMORANDUM ORDER NO. 23-64 SUBJECT : Preparation of an Up-to-date List of Delinquent Accounts as of July 1, 1964 TO : Regional Directors, Branch Chiefs, Chief Revenue Officers, Collection Agents and Others Concerned I. PURPOSE : In order to set up an up-to-date listing of delinquent accounts as of July 1, 1964, the period from April 20 to June 30, 1964 is hereby designated as the period for up-dating and adjusting of current and delinquent accounts and has for its purpose the accomplishment of the following objectives: cdtech A. To avoid embarrassment due to erroneous information of cases still included in the list of delinquent accounts which have long been settled either through payment, cancellation, court decision, prescriptions, etc., which were primarily due to the lack of coordination of those charged with the processing of the said accounts and the complicated procedures involved in the setting up and closing of such accounts; B. To clear up existing backlog in collection work; and C. To bring about improvements in collection procedures. II. PROCEDURE : A. Reporting . Three (3) kinds of reports shall be required of regional, inspection districts, and collection agents' offices to serve as basic documents in the up-dating and adjusting of the delinquent accounts. Samples of these forms are attached to this memorandum Order. 1. Form A ( Up-to-date list of Current and Delinquent Accounts Paid ) This form shall be used to list all payments of tax cases covered by demand letters or assessment notices as shown in the IBM list of delinquent accounts as of August 1, 1963, those subsequently demanded after the said date but not later than June 30, 1964, or those which may be found later as having been demanded but have not been listed. The IBM lists referred to were distributed to the regional, revenue inspection districts, and collection agents' offices in September, 1963. Form A is to be accomplished by Revenue Collectors, Cash Clerks, and other collecting officers assigned to municipalities and chartered cities. Five (5) copies should be prepared of this form in accordance with the instructions distributed as follows: Original and duplicate Delinquent Accounts Division Triplicate Collection Branch Quadruplicate Chief Revenue Officer Quintuplicate Collection Agent's file The first report shall be submitted on April 30, 1964 and thereafter weekly reports shall be submitted every Friday. The last report for June 30, 1964 shall be submitted not later than July 3, 1964. aisadc The Collection Agent is also required to submit a report every Friday even where no payment was made of taxes covered by the list of delinquent accounts. The same form should be used with the notation that no payment has been made during the week. Where no delinquent list exists in the municipality, only one report stating such fact should be submitted and thereafter the Collection Agent will not submit a report until he receives payments of taxes covered by letters of demand or assessment notices subsequently released after the last report. The Chief of the Collection Branch of the regional office shall also accomplish this form for those cases closed, cancelled, or settled in the regional office, of which the Collection Agent has no information. 2. Form B (Up-to-date report on changes of status of cases covered by Demand Letters of Assessment Notices ) This form should be accomplished by Chiefs of Branches or Divisions handling each particular class of miscellaneous tax cases. a. Protested Cases . Cases of this nature shall be reported in this form by the Chief, Income and Business Tax Branch of each regional office. b. Cases Pending in Court or in the Appellate Division . Cases of this nature shall be reported in Form B by the Chief, Legal and Litigation Branch of the regional office in accordance with the instructions contained at the back of Form B. The status of each class of this case should be reported separately. Cases which have been referred to the Appellate Division or to the Litigation Division shall be reported by the respective Chiefs of Division in the same form stating in the remarks column the present status of said cases. The lists coming from the Chiefs, Legal and Litigation Branches and the lists coming from the Chiefs of the Litigation and Appellate Divisions should be reconciled in the Delinquent Accounts Division to determine whether all the cases are accounted for in both reports. If there are discrepancies in the lists, immediate appropriate action should be taken thereon. c. Cases covered by Warrants of Distraint and Levy and Cases Pending Confirmation of Transfer . These two types of cases should be reported separately in Form B by the Chief of the Collection Branch. With respect to those cases pending confirmation of transfer, the reported new residence of the taxpayer should be shown under the remarks column. This form shall be accomplished in four (4) copies; distributed as follows: Original Duplicate Delinquent Accounts Division Triplicate Collection Branch Quadruplicate Office of Origin File 3. Form C (Inventory of Outstanding Accounts) Form C shall be accomplished by Revenue Collectors and other Collecting officers of every municipality or city in five (5) copies. This report shall contain only those cases which are not settled or closed as of June 30, 1964. Four (4) copies of this form as prepared by the collecting officer shall be forwarded together with the last report of paid accounts (Form A) to the Chief, Collection Branch who shall verify them against his own records of accounts not yet settled. In this connection, the Chief of the Collection Branch at the start of this drive should refer his copy of the IBM list of delinquent accounts as of August 1, 1963 to the Chief, Administrative Branch who in turn shall check the cases listed therein which are without notation of payments or adjustments against his files to determine if the corresponding dockets are in the possession of the branch or not, and whether the case is already closed as shown by his records. Proper notation should be made in the space provided thereto. The Chief, Administrative Branch shall return the IBM list to the Chief, Collection Branch not later than June 30, 1964. Upon receipt of the list from the Chief, Administrative Branch the Chief, Collection Branch shall note down in the forms (Form C) he received from the different collecting officers the information noted down by the Chief of the Administrative Branch with respect to the status of the dockets. B. Processing of Reports : 1. Delinquent Accounts Division. a. Duplicate Account Cards . Upon receipt of the abovementioned reports (Forms A, B, & C), the Delinquent Accounts Division shall pull out from its files the corresponding duplicate account cards corresponding to those cases listed in the forms. The cards and list shall be checked against each other to determine if there are any discrepancies. Any discrepancy noted should be immediately acted upon so that appropriate corrections can be made. The duplicate account cards corresponding to each form should be totalled for purposes of control as well as to check it against the totals shown in the form. The totals should be made the basis of posting in the records of the Division and not the individual account cards. The duplicate account cards corresponding to each form should then be placed in an envelope and stapled to the corresponding original copy of the list and forwarded to the Accounting Machines Division. cdi b. Sorting of Unposted Official Receipts . The official receipts on file in the division which have been arranged alphabetically shall be made the basis of checking the cases listed in Column A, the duplicate of which are retained in the division. The corresponding official receipts should be pulled out from the alphabetical file and checked against the cases listed in the form, and if found to be correct notations should be made on the back of the receipts. The receipts pulled out should be filed by municipality after being checked with the forms. The totals of the receipts as checked against the form should be compared with the totals previously referred to in the preceding paragraph with respect to duplicate account cards to determine whether the two totals are in agreement. The receipts remaining in the alphabetical file as well as those that have been pulled out and arranged by municipality should be kept in the Delinquent Accounts Division until such time as the corrected list of delinquent accounts has been released. c. Control of Accounts . The previous procedure in the division of posting individually each case should be discontinued. In lieu thereof, only the totals shown in the duplicate account cards which have been checked against the corresponding form should be posted. The overall balance will be the one used to check the individual balances of the accounts as reflected in the records of the Accounting Machines Division. 2. Accounting Machines Division. The original copies, Forms A, B & C, together with the corresponding duplicate account cards which will be received from the Delinquent Accounts Division should be duly recorded in the records of the Accounting Machines Division before any action is taken on the said cases. On the basis of the forms and the cards as the source documents, the individual postings of the delinquent accounts should be made. As soon as the posting and processing of those cards are finished, they should be kept in the files of the division. a. Preparation of Listings. On the basis of the forms and duplicate account cards which have been processed in the division, the following listings should be prepared. (1) A transaction register by municipality, inspection district and regional office based on Form A. (2) A list by region and/or division showing the status of cases listed in Form B. (3) Two (2) lists of municipality, inspection district and regional office, of outstanding delinquent accounts appearing in Form C. The first list shall contain all cases with dockets while the second shall contain all cases without dockets. b. Distribution of IBM listings. The listings prepared by the division should be distributed in accordance with the following: (1) Transaction Register: (a) Accounting Machines Division (b) Delinquent Accounts Division (c) Chief, Collection Branch (d) Chief Revenue Officer as segregated by inspection districts (e) Collection Agent as segregated by municipality or city. (2) List of Miscellaneous Cases. (a) Accounting Machines Division (b) Delinquent Accounts Division (c) Collection Branch (d) Copies segregated into protested cases, covered by warrant of distraint and levy, cases pending confirmation, which should be distributed to the different branches concerned. The list of cases in the Appellate and Litigation Divisions should be distributed to the corresponding division. (3) List of Outstanding Accounts. (a) Accounting Machines Division (b) Delinquent Accounts Division (c) Collection Branch (d) Chief Revenue Officer as segregated by inspection districts (e) Collection Agent as segregated by municipality or city. Chiefs of Collection Branches shall immediately compare the lists they receive against their records within ten (10) days after receipt and report their findings in writing to the Revenue Operations Head (Collection). The report shall contain the discrepancies noted in the lists and if there is no discrepancy noted, such fact should be stated in the report. III. RESPONSIBILITY : A. Revenue Collectors (Collection Agents) and other Collecting Officials: The Revenue Collector of each municipality shall be responsible for the preparation of Forms A and C. He shall see to it that the weekly list of cases covered by assessment notices or demand letters which have already been paid shall be reported by him every end of the week in Form A starting April 30, 1964. The Revenue Collector should refer to his record of current and delinquent accounts and to his file of assessment notices and transcripts of letters of demand to see if such account has already been paid. All accounts whether current or delinquent which are still open as of June 30, 1964 shall be listed by him in Form C. The inventory of cases not yet settled shall be submitted to the Chief, Collection Branch of the regional office concerned together with the last weekly report in Form A. He shall be responsible for the accuracy of all information contained in the reports prepared by him. B. Chief Revenue Officer : The Chief Revenue Officer shall be responsible for the proper compliance of this Order by all Revenue Collectors under his jurisdiction. He shall be responsible in bringing to their attention the pertinent provisions of this Order. He shall see to it that sufficient blank copies of Forms A and C are provided each municipality and city and are submitted on the dates specified herein. C. Chief, Collection Branch : The Chief, Collection Branch shall be responsible for the supervision and coordination of the preparation of the required reports. For this purpose, he shall mobilize all personnel in his branch to effect efficient compliance to the provisions of this Order. They shall be made to go out to the Revenue Collectors' offices and see to it that the reports are being prepared for submission on time. He shall gather all the reports to be submitted by the different Revenue Collectors and other collecting officials and verify the information contained therein against his own records. He shall also see to it that all the reports (Forms A, B & C) are submitted to the Delinquent Accounts Division not later than July 15, 1964. D. Chief, Administrative Branch : The Chief, Administrative Branch shall be responsible for verifying the cases without notation listed in the IBM lists forwarded by the Chief, Collection Branch against the dockets on file in his office. He shall see to it that all information pertinent to the status of these cases are noted down in the "Remarks" column of the list such as whether the accounts have already been closed either by payment, cancellation or court decision, etc., by indicating the Official Receipt No., date paid, and the amount paid; or the date of the court decision or the ATCA number in case of cancellation. If the docket of a case is not in the file, this information should also be indicated in the same column the office where the docket was sent. E. Regional Director : The Revenue Regional Director shall coordinate the activities of the various branches, Chief Revenue Officers and Revenue Collectors in the jurisdiction. He shall see to it that the time schedule is strictly followed. The Director shall use his discretion in mobilizing his personnel during the duration of this drive such as the temporary shifting of personnel to places where they may be needed. He shall see to it that the reports are accomplished by the respective units under his jurisdiction and on the specified dates called for in this Order. F. Chief, Delinquent Accounts Division : The Chief, Delinquent Accounts Division, during the duration of this drive, shall be responsible for the pulling out of the corresponding duplicate account cards of all cases listed in the reports and checking the information contained in both documents to see if they match. It shall also be his responsibility to cause the checking of the same information against the official receipts on file in the division. He shall establish accounting and audit controls to minimize errors and to spot future shortcomings in the delinquent accounts list to be released. He shall see to it that all reports and duplicate account cards are transmitted to the Accounting Machines Division for punching and the subsequent inclusion in the new listing to be prepared. G. Chief, Accounting Machines Division : The Chief, Accounting Machines Division shall be responsible for the speedy processing and preparation of the transaction registers and the updated lists of outstanding accounts, both current and delinquent. He shall see to it that the up-dated list of delinquent accounts shall be distributed to the units needing them on or before August 31, 1964. H. Revenue Operations Head (Collection ): The Revenue Operations Head (Collection) shall have technical responsibility for the success of the program and shall see to it that the provisions of this Order especially the responsibilities of each participating unit are complied with. I. Revenue Operations Head (Management & Planning ): The Revenue Operations Head (Management & Planning) through the Organization and Methods Staff shall render technical assistance to the Revenue Operations Head (Collection) and the Chief, Delinquent Accounts Division in all aspects involving management, in carrying out the program herein outlined. He shall also be responsible for the evaluation of the problems and results of this project with the view to improving further the present procedures employed in setting up and closing of accounts. IV. REPEALING CLAUSE : All orders or provisions of orders inconsistent with this Order are hereby repealed or modified. casia V. EFFECTIVITY : This Order take effect immediately. (SGD.) BENJAMIN N. TABIOS Acting Commissioner of Internal Revenue FORM A I N S T R U C T I O N S General : 1. This form shall be accomplished in five (5) copies by revenue collectors (Collection Agents). The first three copies shall be sent to the Chief, Collection Branch of the Regional District concerned every Friday. The first report however, should be submitted on April 30, 1964. 2. Each kind of tax should be reported in a separate sheet and this should be indicated with an "X" mark in the appropriate box. 3. Only paid-accounts should be listed in this Form. Specific : 1. Columns No. 1-3 are self-explanatory. 2. Column No. 4 Amount Due refers to the basic tax demanded from the taxpayer. 3. Column No. 5 Penalties refers to additional charges imposed in the form of surcharges, interests or compromises due to failure of the taxpayer to comply with internal revenue regulations. 4. Column No. 6 Total Amount Paid refers to the totals of the figures entered in columns 4 and 5. 5. Column No. 7 is self-explanatory. 6. Column No. 8 Date Paid refers to the date appearing on the official receipt (BIR Form No. 25.24) 7. Column No. 9 Remarks (a) In case of partial payment, note down "Partial". (b) If paid by back pay certificates state date of the acceptance of Back Pay Form No. 3 and date of transmission to the Delinquent Accounts Division; (c) If settled by tax credit, state such fact; (d) If paid in prior periods but not previously reported, state such fact; (e) If paid for an account in another city or municipality, note down such information including the corresponding city or municipality, and the fact that notice was sent to the Collection Agent concerned; (f) Remarks for penalties (Column 5); Place in the remarks column the kind of penalty imposed, whether it is surcharge, interest or compromise. FORM B I N S T R U C T I O N S General : 1. This form shall be used in reporting changes in status of bases covered by assessments and/or demand notices for both current and delinquent accounts as appearing in your IBM list of Outstanding Accounts. 2. The Chiefs of Income and Business Tax, Collection, Legal and Litigation Branches shall accomplish this form in four (4) copies. The first three (3) copies shall be sent to the Chief, Collection Branch of the Regional office concerned. The Chiefs of the Appellate and Litigation Divisions who shall likewise report the status of tax cases referred to them shall accomplish this form in three (3) copies. The first two (2) copies shall be sent direct to the Delinquent Accounts Division. 3. A separate sheet shall be used in reporting each class of cases. Place an "X" mark in the appropriate box to indicate the class to be reported. liblex To serve as guide in the preparation of the report, each class of cases are hereby defined. 1. Protested Cases Cases protested by taxpayers in writing and which after review by the appropriate division or branch are referred to examiners because the protest raises factual issues which cannot be decided without reinvestigation. 2. Cases under litigation or Pending in Court Cases which are actually in court either at the instance of the taxpayer concerned or of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. 3. Cases Pending Confirmation of Transfer Cases wherein the taxpayers concerned have been reported to have changed their residences. 4. Cases Pending in the Appellate Division Protested cases elevated to the Appellate Division at the instance of the taxpayer concerned. 5. Under Warrants of Distraint and Levy Cases covered by Warrants of Distraints and Levy already issued to taxpayers. Specific : Columns 1-6 are self-explanatory. Column 9 Remarks The following information shall be entered in this column: (a) In case of transfer, state the new residence of the taxpayer. (b) In case of protested cases, state the Branch or Office handling the case or cases pending in court. FORM C I N S T R U C T I O N S This form shall be accomplished by Revenue Collectors (Collection Agents) and other collecting officials of each municipality or city in five copies. The first four copies shall be sent to the Chief, Collection Branch of their respective regional districts. It shall contain all accounts not yet settled as of June 30, 1964, whether current or delinquent, as appearing in the Records of the said officials. cdta