THE DEPARTMENT of Finance (DoF) is planning to put up regional campuses of its Philippine Tax Academy (PTA) in the Visayas and Mindanao.

 

In a statement, Finance Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran said that the main site for Mindanao would be in Region 10, or Northern Mindanao.

He said that the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) has requested for the renovation and use of its Northern Mindanao regional office in Cagayan de Oro City into a PTA Center.

Mr. Beltran said that the BLGF asked a budget of P33 million to build the PTA Training Center on the bureau’s 1,064-square meter property.

The regional PTA Training Center would provide officials and personnel of the BLGF, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs (BoC) continuing professional education and training on improving tax collection competence and efficiency.

He added that the BLGF will also soon start offering PTA training courses to local government treasurers.

The DoF is currently working on setting up the academy’s central campus at the University of Makati.

It plans to fully implement the PTA in January next year.

Meanwhile, the University of the Philippines School of Economics in Quezon City would offer Executive Program certificate courses.

Under Republic Act 10143 signed almost seven years ago, the PTA “shall develop and implement a curriculum that includes those pertaining to: the technical aspects of tax collection, administration and compliance; and the career orientation and development for civil servants.”

The law requires all taxmen under the DoF to undergo the re-tooling and enhancement seminars and training programs before they can be hired whether on contractual or permanent status. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan

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