MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said Thursday that private individual taxpayers are exempted from submitting their Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Networth (SALN) when they file their 2010 income tax return (ITR). BIR Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto Henares said that only government officials and employees are required to file their SALN, while private individual taxpayers, particularly those with two jobs or earn an annual salary of P0.5 million have to attach the Annual Information Return (AIR).
The AIR contains information on incomes subject to final withholding tax, like interests on bank deposits, dividends, winning, and proceeds from tax- exempt incomes like insurance and retirement benefits.
"AIR is not SALN," Henares pointed out, adding that the BIR did not issue any regulation expanding SALN coverage to include private individuals.
The BIR chief stressed this point as the bureau’s regional and district offices nationwide were swamped with queries and complaints regarding Revenue Regulations No. 2-2011 which requires individual taxpayers with two employers, or those with an annual salary income of P500,000 and more to enclosed their AIR in their ITRs.
Due to time constraints, Henares announced that the implementation of AIR has been deferred temporarily this year.
Many taxpayers complained that they have no more time to prepare the AIR documents in time for the April 15 deadline in the filing of ITRs.
"The AIR will be made optional for the current year, but mandatory for a certain group of taxpayers when they file their 2011 ITR next year," she said.
The BIR came out with the AIR program to collect the right taxes from rich taxpayers who earned lots of money from various sources, but pay small taxes.
Jun Ramirez, Manila Bulletin
