A PHILIPPINE MODEL FOR INFORMATION SHARING FOR EFFECTIVE REVENUE COLLECTION THROUGH E-GOVERNANCE

Abstract

—Local revenues are the backbone by which local governments anchor the sustenance of their operations, functions and projects within their jurisdiction. Local Government Units (LGU’s) in the Philippines depend heavily on local revenue generation- for their development. Although having the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) given by the national government through which they support their activities and promote their growth, each local government unit through its treasury office rely on an effective local tax administration and collection system in order to get the best possible resource to serve this purpose. Nevertheless, the problem of local revenue tax collection is a perennial problem and this is traced to many factors that play a part in the inability of the local treasury office to exercise their function to the fullest merit. Optimum tax collection efforts can be enhanced by the local treasury office should it have the ability to synchronize information records which allows the treasury office to check and verify the records taxpayers paying business taxes. Access to this knowledge will give the local treasury the capability to maximize tax collection effectively. And because the local treasury organization like any other government organization is structured to become compatible with new technology development to help it faced with changes in its environment, present day technology in terms of information is now made part of that response. Verification of accuracy of payments through collaborative inter agency efforts is now available. This requires three agencies to collaborate in comparing actual gross sales/receipts from declared gross sales/receipts based on the gathered documents like the books of account, audited financial statements, vat returns and the official receipts as proof of payment of the local business taxes. Three agencies have been mandated to collaborate on this endeavor: the Local City Treasury, the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Secur