By Ben Rosario The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) should go after big businesses, not the small ones engaged in online transactions, the House committee on ways and means has declared. Albay 2nd District Representative Joey Salceda (MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO) Committee chairman and Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda made this statement as he expressed his concern for the plight of small entrepreneurs, particularly displaced workers, who have resorted to digital transactions amid the economic difficulties triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier, senators slammed the BIR for warning that it will penalize those involved in digital commerce should they fail to register their businesses before July 31. The Department of Finance (DOF) released the BIR statement to the media. ACT-CIS Partylist Rep. Nina Taduran slammed the timing by which the BIR issued Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 60-2020 that required online sellers to register their businesses in order for government to collect taxes from them. Taduran urged the revenue collection agency to postpone the effectivity of its tax campaign until the country’s economic activities have returned to normal. The BIR said digital transactions include delivery channels and Internet service providers. The failure to register on or before July 31 will mean penalties for those who will be caught transacting. The BIR also said online businesses are exempt from income tax if the annual sale is P250,000 and below. “The House committee is clear that we should go after the big money in big firms' digital transactions, and not for BIR to after the small entrepreneurs,” Salceda said. He called on the DoF and the BIR to allow a discussion of the issue in a congressional hearing in order that “various stakeholders can be heard.” “I especially want commitments from the BIR that the exemptions under the CMTA, TRAIN law, and the Barangay Micro Business Enterprise (BMBE) law be effected, so that we do not burden the small entrepreneur in these difficult times,” he said. CMTA refers to the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act while TRAIN is the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act. He said importation below P10,000 is exempted from payment of duties, while revenues under P3 million need not be registered for value-added tax. “That said, I align with the principle of plugging leaks in the tax system. But we have to do everything in a multi-stakeholder, multi-perspective way, and congressional hearings allow us to do that,” Salceda said. He assured DoF officials that the RMC will be discussed in a hearing on digital taxation that the ways and means panel will hold soon. According to Salceda, the revenue memorandum will be reviewed and “if it turns out to be flawed, I will ask the BIR to improve it.”