The Bureau of Internal Revenue will impost harsher penalties to those who will fail to comply with tax laws.

BIR commissioner Sixto Esquivias said the tax agency would clamp down on taxpayers who fail to submit a summary list of sales and purchases as required under the National Internal Revenue Code.

Esquivias said compliance on this requirement was lower than 30 percent.

He said the BIR will increase the P1,000 fine for violators would be increased and add surcharges to the unpaid amount of taxes due.

The BIR chief said the summary list of sales and purchases is a crucial documentary trace for the tax agency to identify taxpayers who under-declare their sales and income, thus reducing their tax payments.

Previous cases filed against high profile individuals, like actress Judy Ann Santos, were based on filings of companies they endorsed products for. BIR based the cases on the comparison of the companies' and the famous personalities' tax filings.

However, these efforts just accounted for 0.6 percent of the tax agency's efforts. Esquivias said 99.4 percent of tax collections came from voluntary compliance.

Considering that tax payers usually under-declare their tax dues during difficult economic times, Esquivias is basically saying the sanctions should help stop under-declarations now that the local economy is reeling from the global economic slowdown.

The BIR under Esquivias, however, has not been active in pursuing legal cases against tax evaders.

The agency missed its revised down collection goal of P165.3 billion for the first quarter by 7.1 percent. It only collected P154.8 billion, resulting in the swelling of the government's budget deficit by P9.6 billion to P119.6 billion for the period.

BIR collections account for almost two-thirds of the government's total revenues. Its tax collection performance is tracked by external entities, like the international rating agencies, global banks, and other think-tanks, as a gauge of the country's efforts to keep its fiscal house in order.