BIR enlists boy scouts in e-sales reporting drive

THOUSANDS of boy and girl scouts in the country will help the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) compel shop owners nationwide to enroll in the e-sales reporting system launched by the agency early this month.

BIR Commissioner Guillermo Parayno Jr. said the project would designate the Boy and Girl Scouts of the Philippines "junior tax patrols" that will be affixing the agency's stickers in about a million cash register and point-of-sales machines in the country.

The tax campaign program was initiated at the Glorietta Activity Center in Ayala Center, Makati City Monday morning, with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Department of Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, the Coalition against Corruption, and the Makati Business Club as guests.

"The stickers carry two reminders: One to businesses on their legal duty of enrolling machines and of reporting monthly sales through our e-sales reporting system," Parayno said.

He said the scouts would also act as the agency's agents to remind customers to always ask for their receipts when they purchase goods in shops.

BIR Commissioner added that the agency would soon create a junior scout patrol that will report shops and establishments failing to issue receipts to customers.

The scouts will also help distribute the agency's e-sales reporting fliers.

"Following today's kickoff, we expect enrollments and e-sales reporting to accelerate," said Parayno.

The BIR e-sales reporting system, launched on March 10, 2005, requires local shops using cash register or point-of-sale machines to text, e-mail or post their monthly sales reports to the agency.

This requirement was institutionalized under the BIR Revenue Regulations No. 5-2005 under Section 244 of the National Internal Revenue Code.

Parayno said Monday's kickoff aims to encourage local shops to enroll their machines. After enrollment, the agency will issue a machine identification number that will aid the BIR in monitoring the sales report of shops and other establishments.

"We will no longer accept the traditional system of sales reporting by shops. This will replace it," the BIR official told reporters soon after the program was launched.

The e-sales reporting system was developed by Sun Microsystems Philippines in collaboration with Micro-D Inc., Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, and WolfPac