Addendum to Revenue Memorandum Order No. 9-97 on the Completion of TRU Phase II at the ITS-Converted Revenue District Offices

December 5, 1997 REVENUE MEMORANDUM ORDER NO. 68-97 SUBJECT : Addendum to Revenue Memorandum Order No. 9-97 on the Completion of TRU Phase II at the ITS-Converted Revenue District Offices TO : All Revenue Data Center Heads, All Revenue District Officers of the Pilot District Offices and Others Concerned I. OBJECTIVES This Order is being issued for the following purposes: 1. To promulgate additional operational policies for the implementation of TRU Phase II, so as to minimize the incidence of suspended records within the Integrated Tax System (ITS) Database; and 2. To provide supplementary procedures for the processing of Taxpayer Record Update (TRU) Forms by personnel of the ITS-Converted Revenue District Offices (hereinafter referred to as the "District Offices"). II. GENERAL POLICIES AND GUIDELINES The following policies and guidelines shall be observed in the processing of TRU Forms, in addition to those previously set forth in RMO No. 9-97: 1. The deadline for the completion of the Taxpayer Record Update for Taxpayers earning purely compensation income, also known as TRU Phase II, is hereby set on January 31, 1998 to allow sufficient time for the encoding and uploading of TRU data, prior to the deadline of filing of Income Tax Returns for taxable year 1997. 2. All RDO TRU Teams must inform employers within their jurisdiction that the 1902 Forms of all their employees must be submitted to the District Office concerned not later than January 20, 1998, with or without the required attachments . This is to give the District Offices appropriate interval for the screening, batching and transmittal of TRU Forms; however, it is understood that the aforesaid processes should be done regularly upon receipt of the TRU forms by the District Offices. The employees, through their employers, must be advised to comply with the submission of the required attachments within six (6) months, or not later than July 20, 1997 . 3. All required attachments prescribed under Section IV-A of RMO No. 9-97 dated March 6, 1997, (i.e., birth certificates, marriage contracts, etc.) shall remain in the custody of the District Offices and must be properly filed and stored. 4. All duly-accomplished 1925 Forms (TIN Card Capture Forms) shall also remain in the custody of the District Offices and must be properly filed and stored. 5. All 1902 Forms that have been satisfactorily screened must be forwarded to the Information Systems Operations Service (ISOS) not later than January 31, 1998 . 1902 Forms that are not forwarded to the ISOS by said date shall then be encoded by the District Offices concerned directly into their ITS. III. PROCEDURES A. Procedures for the Implementation of TRU Phase II RDC 1. The Revenue Data Center shall provide all District Offices with a List of Withholding Agents of Compensation Income in their respective jurisdictions before December 31, 1997 . RDO 2. All District Offices must conduct TRU briefings as often as possible, to increase the level of awareness of the Program among employers and employees in their jurisdictions. Likewise, each District Office shall ensure that all employers enumerated in the List of Withholding Agents are advised to submit the 1902 Forms of their employees not later than January 20, 1998 . 3. To determine which employers have yet to submit the 1902 Forms of their employees, each District Office shall cross-reference the List of Withholding Agents with any of the following documents: a. The TRU Monitoring Sheets submitted by employers, pursuant to RMO No. 9-97: b. The TRU Program Worksheet (Attachment C hereof) prepared by the District Office, as prescribed by RMO No. 9-97; or c. Any other document or accomplishment report prepared by the District Office to monitor the submission of 1902 Forms by employers. The number of employers who have submitted 1902 Forms shall be compared to the total number of employers in the List of Withholding Agents, to determine the degree of each District Office's completion of TRU Phase II. 4. Upon submission of 1902 Forms by a particular employer, the District Office concerned shall immediately record such submission in the TRU Program Worksheet, and screen the submitted Forms in accordance with the abovementioned procedures. B. Screening and Validation of 1902 Forms RDO 1. In accordance with the Checklist of Activities for the Receipt and Verification of TRU Forms prescribed under RMO No. 9-97, the RDO TRU Validation Teams shall screen all 1902 Forms, as part of the initial validation process. Such "screening" shall ascertain the following: a. Completeness of information required by each data field, including the mandatory fields to be accomplished by revenue personnel, such as the Municipality Code , RDO Code , and Attachment Complete ? Fields; b. Consistency of the information provided in the accomplished Form; and c. Affixture of the required signatures in the Form. 2. The TRU Validation Team shall make use of the Job Aid for Validating Form 1902 (Attachment B hereof), as a reference in the screening of 1902 Forms. 3. The Revenue Officers/Group Supervisors of each TRU Validation Team shall affix their initials to each screened TRU Form, to attest that it has passed the initial validation process. Any Forms found to be incomplete, or incorrectly accomplished, shall, in compliance with the procedures set forth in the Checklist of Activities specified in RMO No. 9-97, be returned to concerned employer for corrections, with appropriate details on the incorrect or missing information. 4. All screened TRU Forms shall be grouped in batches of fifty (50) Forms, and arranged according to the employer who submitted the Forms. The District Offices are advised, however, to segregate the old 1902 Forms (revised March 1996), together with their corresponding Form 2305 (Exemption Certificate), from the new 1902 Mega-Form (revised March 1997/May 1997), when preparing the batches of Forms. C. Transmittal of 1902 Forms RDO 1. The District Offices shall transmit all TRU Forms to ISOS for encoding not later than January 31, 1998 . The Transmittal Letter must be supported by a Certification of the Revenue District Officer concerned, stating that the transmitted Forms have been duly screened/validated in accordance with the guidelines and procedures set forth in this Order. ISOS 1. All Forms received from District Offices must be encoded and uploaded not later than March 15, 1998 . 2. All records which were suspended upon uploading to the ITS shall be returned by ISOS to the District Offices concerned, for resolution and encoding directly into their ITS. IV. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS All District Offices shall continue to submit the TRU Phase II Weekly Status Report to the TRU Office, 6 th Floor, BIR National Office. Said Status Report shall provide information on the number of withholding agents contacted as of the date of preparation of the Report. The Status Report must be received by the TRU Office not later than Tuesday of the week following the date of the Report . V. EFFECTIVITY This Order shall take effect immediately. LIWAYWAY VINZONS-CHATO Commissioner of Internal Revenue