Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto has commended the Philippine Tax Academy (PTA) for expanding its training programs last year and urged the agency to further scale these efforts to strengthen public personnel’s tax administration capabilities in order to boost revenue collections for national development.

“The Philippine Tax Academy is our crucial partner in making sure that our revenuers are well-equipped with knowledge and expertise to raise a collective level of efficiency, transparency, and credibility in performing their sacred duties of raising much-needed resources for the benefit of the Filipino people,” the Finance Chief said.

“We owe it to our taxpayers to ensure that there are no inconsistencies in our tax collections and that our tax collectors and administrators provide them with the best service possible, with all honesty and competency,” he added.

The PTA is a government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) serving as a learning institution for tax collectors and administrators of the government and applicants from the private sector.

It develops and implements curriculums containing technical aspects of tax collection, administration, and compliance, as well as career orientation and development for its applicants.

The PTA currently comprises three institutes––the Internal Revenue Institute (IRI) to build the employee capacities of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR); the Customs Institute (CI) for the Bureau of Customs (BOC); and the Local Government Finance Institute (LGFI) for the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) and local treasurers across the nation.

In an effort to broaden its mandate, the PTA is actively exploring opportunities to extend its services to meet the needs of other DOF-attached agencies and GOCCs, such as the National Tax Research Center (NTRC) and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).

Despite being a small agency, the PTA has accomplished much in 2023, demonstrating its capacity to provide learning and development on the country’s tax system.

Last year, the PTA trained 7,242 employees and developed an additional 53 courses and modules.

Moreover, it has partnered with six recognized academic and training institutions to capture international best practices in its curriculum.

Among the domestic institutions were the University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB) and the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP).

It has also partnered with international organizations such as the Korea International Cooperation Service through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA); the Japan Customs Training Institute through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA); the National Tax Agency Japan through the National Tax College; and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The PTA also developed four good governance manuals specifically on corporate governance, quality management, employees, and merit selection.

Additionally, it has established Competency Management Systems (CMS) each for the BIR, BOC, BLGF, and the PTA, since priority competencies are the basis for the three bureaus’ onboarding program.

To extend their services to the private sector and generate income, the PTA attained two Continuing Professional Development (CPD) accreditations from the CPD Council for Accountancy and the CPD Council for Customs Broker.

The Academy was also accredited by the Philippine Regulation Commission (PRC) as a CPD training provider for the two professions.

Furthermore, five CPD courses have been developed by the PTA, such as the local government unit (LGU) Responsible Financing Seminar with 24 CPD creditable units, and the Tax Exemption Compliance with 4 courses.

On August 15, 2024, the PTA passed the Stage 2 audit conducted by the third-party Certifying Body (TUV Nord) and was recommended for issuance to ISO 9001:2015.

Joining Secretary Recto in the meeting were Chief-of-Staff and Undersecretary Maria Luwalhati Dorotan Tiuseco and Policy Development and Management Service Group OIC-Undersecretary Niño Raymond B. Alvina.

Attendees from the PTA side included President Gil Beltran; Local Government Finance Institute Chancellor Ma. Teresa Habitan; Customs Institute Chancellor Noemi Alcala-Garcia; Customs Institute Vice Chancellor Elizabeth Pableo; and Director Ma. Luisa Notario.