Policies and Procedures on the Microfilming Applications in the Bureau of Internal Revenue

April 1, 1968 REVENUE MEMORANDUM ORDER NO. 45-68 SUBJECT : Policies and Procedures on the Microfilming Applications in the Bureau of Internal Revenue I . PURPOSE This Order sets forth policies, responsibilities, procedures, and guidelines for the effective utilization of the microfilming services in the Bureau of Internal Revenue. II . OBJECTIVES Microphotography shall be made use of when economically and procedurally feasible to: A. provided a medium adaptable to specialized document storage, records research, and information retrieval requirement; B. produce security copies of important records of the Bureau of Internal Revenue; C. preserved the contents of deteriorating or disposable valuable records before getting rid of them; D. save records storage space and filing equipments. III . GENERAL POLICIES A. Dockets To Be Microfilmed 1. It shall be the policy of this Office to safeguard the indispensable records of the Bureau against damage or loss. The protection of the important records can be accomplished by microfilming the original records and storing the resultant security copies in a depository safe in the Cash and Disbursement Division. 2. The term important records shall include the following documents: a. dockets of tax cases involving an amount of P10,000.00 and above; b. dockets of tax cases which are subject to court litigations regardless of the amounts involved; c. dockets of tax cases fraud which are recommended for prosecution including dockets on bouncing checks and fake receipts; d. all subsequent action documents or papers which form part of a docket already microfilmed. e. other dockets or cases not included in the preceding paragraph which a department head may recommend duly approved by the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner. LLjur B. On Reproduction of Records on Microfilms or any part of it 1. In cases of microfilmed dockets, the original of which has been confirmed to be lost, these reproduction of the records on microfilms can only be done by the Records Division, By preparing a memo to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue informing him of such loss and requesting for authority to reproduce in full or part of docket in question. 2. In cases of ordinary request for reproduction of records on microfilms, it shall be made by the interested taxpayer, a BIR official, or any organizational unit concerned on a request form which shall contain among others the purpose of reproduction, the number of copies required and the identity of the one making the requests (Annex A). This request shall be addressed to the Records Division through the Administrative Services Department and shall be duly approved by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue or the Deputy Commissioner. 3. A separate file of all written requests for microfilming documents must be maintained in the Records Division. VI . RESPONSIBILITIES To attain an efficient, effective and economical microphotographic operations in the Bureau, the following responsibilities are hereby prescribed: A. Records Division : The Chief of the Records Division shall be responsible for: 1. formulating and recommending general policies and plans for the utilization of microphotography and for appraising the Commissioner of the effectiveness of microphotographic applications; 2. advising and assisting top management and other operating units of the Bureau in the proper use of microphotography as a tool for effective tax administration; 3. determining the need, feasibility and the economic soundness of proposed microphotographic applications and to determine feasibility of further applications of microphotography; 4. seeing to it that all policies and procedures on microfilming activities in the Bureau are enforced and implemented; 5. directing the conduct of microphotographic applications to insure performance of acceptable level of quality and quantity; 6. establishing standards for film stock and film processing standards against which to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of microfilm operations; and, 7. maintaining the integrity of the original records through the arrangement, identification and indexing of the copies so that information can be located and retrieved with facility. B. Organization and Methods Division : The Chief, Organization and Methods Division, in coordination with the Chief, Records, Division, shall be responsible for conducting continuing studies and/or research to evaluate new applications, techniques and equipments on microphotography and to develop criteria and standards for evaluating microfilming operations. C. Cash and Disbursement Division : The Chief of the Cash and Disbursement Division shall be responsible for: 1. safekeeping of all reels of exposed microfilms which should be kept in the vault; 2. keeping of systematic records of reels received for safekeeping; and 3. releasing to the Records Division reels of microfilm for reproduction upon proper authorization from the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner. The release of the reels should be duly recorded and taken into account in the records kept by the division. prcd D. Other Operating Departments, Divisions and Offices : It shall be the responsibility of all Departments and Divisions in the National Office and the Regional Offices directly handling dockets or documents that falls under the term "important records" to forward the same to the Records Division for purposes of microfilming. All subsequent action documents of dockets already microfilmed shall also be forwarded to the Records Division for microphotographic updating. This will insure that no important records leaves the bureau or is presented in court without having been microfilmed. To facilitate the microfilming of important records needing immediate attention, the forwarding office concerned shall attach a note indicating that the docket or document should be given priority in microfilming. V . PROCEDURES A. All dockets of tax cases involving an amount of P10,000 or over, dockets of court cases irrespective of the amount and dockets of less than P10,000 where the microfilming thereof has been recommended by the department head concerned shall be forwarded by the organizational unit concerned to the Records Division for microfilming before the assessment notice or demand letter are sent to the taxpayers concerned or before the case is filed in court. B. Dockets of fraud cases coming from the National Tax Fraud Unit which are being forwarded to the Prosecution Division shall first be forwarded by the Special Investigation Division to the Records Division for microfilming before the docket is released to the Prosecution Division or to such other division as the case may be. The words "fraud case" shall be clearly indicated on the top of the first page of the docket before the case is forwarded for microfilming. C. Upon receipt of a docket or a case from any department, division or revenue region, the following procedures shall be observed by the Records Division in its microphotographic operation: 1. Receiving and Releasing Section a. on documents received for file. 1. Dockets of Tax Cases. Upon receipt of a tax docket for file from an action office, the control group of the records unit shall a. refer to the docket locator card file to determine whether the taxpayer already has a case file folder in the records unit. b. reflect the numerical case file on the upper right hand portion of the docket, if the taxpayer has a case file folder; or refer to the numerical case file control book, if the taxpayer has no case file folder, for the determination of the case file number to be assigned to the taxpayer; Fill out the desired information in the control book; Prepare a docket locator card for the taxpayer; Reflect the assigned numerical case file number on the upper right hand portion of the docket; and Insert the docket locator card in the Docket Locator Card File (which is maintained alphabetically.) c. Number consecutively (preferably with a numbering machine) all the sheets comprising the docket. In the case of a docket which refers or relates to a case already on file, the sheets comprising the docket shall be numbered consecutively beginning the next succeeding number of a case already on file. d. Forwards the docket to the Asst. Chief of Division or to the Chief, in the former's absence, if the tax case is to be microfilmed. If not, it shall be forwarded to the filers in the Tax Dockets Section of the Division. e. If a request for the reproduction of a document or record on microfilm is received and after ascertaining that it has been approved by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue or the Deputy Commissioner, the same shall be forwarded to the Asst. Chief or Chief, as the case may be. 2. The Chief or Assistant Chief of the Records Division a. Determines whether a docket has to be microfilmed by the Division, or determines the extent of microfilming to be done if part of the docket has already been microfilmed. b. If a request for reproduction is received, checks whether the request had been duly approved by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue or the Deputy Commissioner. c. Forwards the docket or the request for reproduction to the Microfilming Section. 3. Microfilming Section a. On microfilming of dockets (1) Records the receipt of dockets to be microfilmed in the Control Book. (2) Examines the dockets or records to be microfilmed whether they are properly paged or numbered from the first action document to the last action document. (3) Prepares the records for microfilming such as numbering of the pages to be microfilmed, removing of fasteners, staples and paper clips, etc. (4) Stamps the word "MICROFILMED" on the last action paper and indicate therein the corresponding docket number, reel number and the date of microfilming. Initials the paper before actual microfilming is done. cdt (5) Inserts microfilm targets or distinctive flash cards in the course of the microfilming process as may be required to identify or indicate errors, revisions, or illegible documents or to index and/or authenticated microfilm. These microfilm targets or certificate of Authenticity are described as follows: (a) Correction Microfilm Target shall be filmed whenever the camera operator notes that a document has been improperly photographed and he can stop the camera in time to film the target and to refilm the document immediately. (See Annex "B") (b) Retake Microfilm Target shall be used to mark the start of retakes and the end of retakes. These targets will be filmed as retakes, i.e., film strips of documents that have been re-filmed because of illegibility during the initial filming. (Annex "C") (c) Certificate of Authenticity shall be used whenever there is a requirement that a microfilm be certified as an authentic reproduction of the original documents. (Annex "D") (6) Re-arranges the records in a docket according to its original arrangement and charges the docket to the filer either for filing or to the Releasing Clerks for releasing to the units concerned. (7) Maintains worksheets and index cards in which to record the following data: (a) The name and address of the taxpayer (b) Years or periods covered by the docket (c) The kind and amount of tax (d) The conversion number of the docket (e) The reel number (f) The number of pages microfilmed (g) The nature of the tax case, whether it is a (1) fraud case, (2) a court case, (3) active case, (4) closed case, (5) others. (8) Wraps and delivers the completed reels of microfilm to the Processing Laboratory at the end of each day, except those rolls of films which are partially exposed and left in the microfilming machine overnight. (9) Inspects the processed microfilm received from the Processing Laboratory by scanning on a "Reader" to check the legibility of the documents. Illegible microfilms must be checked against the original documents and shall be corrected before refilming to assure legibility. (10) Places the completed and processed microfilm on a reel or reels, and each reel shall be filed in a microfilm carton. At the bottom right-hand margin of the panel entitled "Index of Contents" (Annex "E") enter the reel number of the enclosed reel. (11) Numbers the microfilm reel cards consecutively and forwards them to the Chief, Cash and Disbursement Division for storage. b. On reproduction of records on microfilms (1) refers to the index cards of microfilmed dockets to locate the conversion number corresponding to the actual docket number and the reel number of the roll of microfilms where the required record is contained. (2) gets the reel of the microfilm from the Cash and Disbursement Division. (3) inserts the film magazine into the slot at the left side of the reader, keys the index code number into the image control unit which automatically search and display the desired image on the reader screen. (4) reproduces as many number of copies as required in the request. (5) returns the reel of microfilm to the Cash & Disbursement Division for storage file and forwards the reproduced copies to the Chief or Assistant Chief of the Records Division before they are released to the unit/person concerned. (6) files all requests for reproduction separately. VI . REPEALING CLAUSE This Order supersedes, revises or modifies Revenue Memorandum Order No. 50-66 and all other existing orders or provisions thereof which are inconsistent herewith. VII . EFFECTIVITY This Order takes effect upon approval. MISAEL P. VERA Commissioner of Internal Revenue