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FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
First Regular Session 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
S E N A T E  
Senate Bill No. 620 
INTRODUCED BY SEN. JINGGOY EJERCITO ESTRADA 
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EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is the primary revenue raising 
agency of the government, collecting almost eighty percent (80%) of total 
government revenues. Inarguably, the agency's greatest asset is its pool of 
trained and hardworking personnel. Recent developments, however, show that 
many of the employees in the BIR are leaving the service to seek greener 
pasture in the private sector. Empirical evidence reveals that several high and 
middle management officials of the BIR resign from office to join large accounting 
firms or IT companies where they receive salaries double or triple the amount 
they were getting in BIR. This excessive turnover of employees, especially 
among lawyers, information technology analysts and programmers, undeniably 
poses a serious problem in tax administration. 
While reforms have been 
introduced to modernize and improve tax administration, little attention is given to 
the workforce of the BIR. Indeed, it is ironic that the BIR employees, who provide 
the very foundation of tax administration, get the least notice in reform programs. 
The current compensation schedule of BIR personnel is totally 
unacceptable and grossly disproportionate to the importance, risk and urgency 
that their work entails. Faced with enormous workloads, these employees are 
compensated with measly salaries way below those earned by their counterparts 
in the private sector. For instance, a lawyer in the BIR normally handling 100 
active cases earns a mere P20,OOO.OO monthly salary. 
A BIR Database 
administrator, on the other hand, receives only P15,OOO.OO every month, 
whereas his counterpart in a private IT firm earns P60,OOO.OO monthly. 
As a measure to correct this blatant inequity and to further strengthen the 
employees from Republic Act No. 6758 otherwise known as the Salary 
Standardization Law, with this bill, the salary levels of BIR employees will be 
placed at par with industry standards. Hopefully, the BIR will be able to attract 
the best human resources of our nation to enter the service and encourage its 
highly-trained personnel to stay in their respective positions. 
Needless to state, increase in the salaries of the BIR employees will 
promote efficiency in their performance, improve their operations and lead to a 
significant increase in revenue collections. 
With the aforementioned premises, the approval of this bill is earnestly 
sought. 
GG 
EJERCITO ESTRA 
Senator 


FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC ) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
First Regular Session 
1 
S E N A T E  
Senate Bill No. 620 
INTRODUCED BY SEN. JINGGOY EJERCITO ESTRADA 
AN ACT 
EXEMPTING THE BUREAU OF INTERNAL REVENUE FROM THE COVERAGE OF 
REPUBLIC 
ACT 
NO. 
6758, 
OTHERWISE 
KNOWN 
AS 
THE 
SALARY 
STANDARDIZATION LAW, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1, Declaration of Policy. - It is the policy of the State to reform tax 
administration by hiring and maintaining competent and professional revenue officials 
and personnel to enforce the Philippine internal revenue tax system. Towards this end, 
the State shall exempt the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and its employees from the 
coverage of Republic Act No. 6758, otherwise known as the Salary Standardization Law. 
SEC. 2. Exemption from salarystandardization. - The BIR and its employees 
shall be exempt from the coverage of the Salary Standardization Law. 
The BIR is hereby authorized to upgrade its human resource component and 
formulate its own compensation schedule and position qualification standards based on 
a comprehensive job analysis and audit of actual duties and responsibilities of its officers 
and employees. 
The compensation schedule and position of classification systems implemented 
pursuant to this Act shall be approved by the Department of Budget and Management 
(DBM) and shall be subject to periodic review by the BIR, in consultation with the 
Department of Finance (DoF) and the Civil Service Commission (CSC), not more than 
once every three (3) years, without prejudice to yearly merit reviews or increases based 
on performance. 
SEC. 3. lmplementing Rules and Regulations. - The BIR shall promulgate the 
Implementing Rules and Regulations for this Act within ninety (90) days from approval 
hereof. 
SEC. 4. Appropriation Clause. - The amount necessary to implement this Act 
shall be included in the General Appropriations Act of the year following its enactment 
into law. 
SEC. 5. Separability Clause. - If any of the sections or provisions of this Act is 
held invalid, all other provisions not affected thereby shall remain valid. 
SEC. 
6. 
Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, issuances, rules and 
regulations inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or modified 
accordingly. 
SEC. 7. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
complete publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved,