REVENUE MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 80-2012 issued on November 28, 2012 directs all BIR offices performing frontline services to strictly adhere to the provisions of Republic Act (RA) No. 9485, otherwise known as the “Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007” (ARTA).
The following BIR offices that have face-to-face interaction with taxpayers and other external stakeholders (i.e. tax practitioners and representatives of AABs, government agencies, etc.) and are regularly rendering “frontline services” are considered covered by the provisions of the said Act:
a. All Regional Offices and all its Divisions, except Administrative Division and Document Processing Division (DPD) (for regions with DPD)
b. All Revenue District Offices
c. All Divisions under the Large Taxpayers Service, except LT Document Processing & Quality Assurance Division and LT Performance Monitoring & Programs Division
d. Taxpayer Information and Education Division
e. Asset Valuation Division
f. One-Stop-Shop Center (holding office in the Department of Finance)
g. Collection Enforcement Division
h. Collection Programs Division
i. Withholding Tax Division
j. Law Division
k. International Tax Affairs Division
l. Appellate Division
m. National Investigation Division
In delivering frontline services to its clients/stakeholders, the following guidelines prescribed under Section 8 of RA No. 9485 shall be strictly implemented by the aforementioned
BIR offices:
a) All officers or employees shall acknowledge receipt of written applications, requests, and/or documents being submitted by clients of the office or agencies. The receiving
officer or employee shall perform a preliminary assessment of the request so as to promote a more expeditious action on requests.
b) All applications and/or requests submitted shall be acted upon by the assigned officer or employee during the period stated in the Citizen’s Charter, which shall not be longer than 5 working days in the case of simple transactions and 10 working days in the case of complex transactions from the date the request or application was received. Depending on the nature of the frontline services requested or the mandate of the office or agency under unusual circumstances, the maximum time prescribed above may be extended. The office or agency concerned shall notify the requesting party in writing of the reason for the extension and the final date of release for the extension and the final date of release of the frontline service/s requested.
c) No application or request shall be returned to the client without appropriate action. In case an application or request is disapproved, the officer or employee who rendered the decision shall send a formal notice to the client within 5 working days from receipt of the request and/or application, stating therein the reason for the disapproval including a list of specific requirement/s which the client failed to submit.
d) Any denial of request for access to government service shall be fully explained in writing, stating the name of the person making the denial and the grounds upon which such denial is based. Any denial of request is deemed to have been made with the permission or clearance from the highest authority having jurisdiction over the government office or agency concerned.
e) The number of signatories in any document shall be limited to a maximum of 5 signatures, which shall represent officers directly supervising the office or agency
concerned.
f) Heads of offices and agencies, which render frontline services shall adopt appropriate
working schedules to ensure that all clients who are within their premises prior to the end of official working hours are attended to and served even during lunch break and after regular working hours.
g) All employees transacting with the public shall be provided with an official identification card which should be visibly worn during office hours.
h) Each office or agency shall establish a public assistance/complaints desk in all their offices.
The penalties for violations of the said guidelines under RA No. 9485 are specified in the Circular.