Internal Revenue Fund (BIR) may resume the issuance of letters of authority (LoA) internally first quarter, as agency aims to improve revenue collection.
Finance Secretary Frederick D. Go said tax audits should be resumed as the BIR seeks to meet its revised revenue target of P3.431-trillion this year.
“We have to start that again. We need that to raise money,” he said reporters on Wednesday evening.
An informed source said the BIR is likely to resume LoA issuance during the first quarter.
An LoA is a document from the BIR that allows an auditor to audit a taxpayer’s accounts. It is required before any tax assessment can proceed.
Last November, the BIR banned all land inspections, including the issuance of LoAs, mission orders and inspections, following allegations of abuse by business groups and lawmakers.
“I must tell you that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) cannot live with these mandates that have been suspended forever,” said Mr. Go while speaking at the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines event on Jan. 21.
The BIR collected only P3.11 trillion in 2025, missing its annual target of P3.22 trillion.
Information provided to reporters showed that the BIR lowered its revenue collection target this year to P3.431 trillion, 4.14% lower than the previous target of P3.579.9 trillion. However, it is 10.5% higher than the actual collection in 2025.
“If we restart this (LoA) project, we will reduce the number of departments within the BIR that are authorized to issue warrants, and reduce the number of warrants a taxpayer can receive in any given year,” said Mr. Go.
Mr. Go said the BIR will also digitize and centralize the data-driven audit selection process for the LoA.
“Using an automated risk-based model, we are creating a system that reduces discretion and strengthens accountability. The key word here is quality audits, and we will not allow unreasonable or abusive audits,” he said.
The BIR earlier announced preparations ahead of the lifting of the moratorium to address the concerns of businesses. Business groups have long complained that flexible audit procedures create uncertainty and expose firms to potential abuse.
BIR Commissioner Charlito Martin R. Mendoza said the agency earlier set up a Technical Group Review Committee for Auditing Integrity and Accounting Reform following the suspension of tax audits.
The committee is now in the final stages of finalizing a policy that will guide audit procedures once the suspension is lifted, he said.
Mr. Mendoza had said that once the audit resumes, taxpayers will be able to access the LoA verifier through the BIR’s Chatbot REVIE, and the new policy will limit audits to one LoA per taxpayer.
He also added that the agency will also use the “revalida,” or audit program, to strengthen accountability among the revenue.fthe icers.
These changes are part of the BIR’s five-point reform plan, called BIR DARES, with audit reforms as a priority.
DARES stands for Digital and Data Transformation, Research Transformation and Accountability, Revenue Collection and Foundation Protection, Workforce Development and Welfare, and Good Performance and Stakeholder Collaboration.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Customs’ (BoC) 2026 collection target was also lowered to P1.003 trillion, 1.07% below the initial target. of P1.0138 trillion but 7.34% higher than the actual collection of P934.4-billion last year.
Transportation Commissioner Ariel F. Nepomuceno earlier said the agency missed its target of P958.71 billion by 2025 due to the slow progress of rice importation amid the rice importation ban and corruption scandal.
In addition, the government raised its target for the collection of non-taxable income by 40.47% to P349.9 billion from its previous target of P249.1 billion.
By 2026, the target collection of some of thefThe freeze is set at P38.7 billion. – ARAI
