The root of the problem: Matuwid-na-Daan’s BIR

A THANK you is in order. Revenue District Officer of RDO No. 39 of the BIR, Ma’am Editha A. Calipusan, replied to my last column about what I have called my BIR woes. In her email dated January 18, Ma’am Calipusan explains why the fees would change from the first time I asked about penalties, to the time when I went back to actually pay those fees: waiting three months to pay means being penalized for each of those months.

Which I understand. But which also presumes that freelance writers like myself, who cannot count on any regular salary, can have P60,000 pesos in savings at any given time. I don’t. And I’m pretty sure that is true for many contractual workers – which is essentially what I am. That I took three months is a measure of how long it takes to raise that kind of cash – and I wouldn’t even have been able to without the kind heart of a good Samaritan.