BOC, BIR employees seeking promotion must pass PTA training

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2036
  • Starting 2021 applicants and employees of the Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Internal Revenue, and Bureau of Local Government Finance who are up for promotion must pass relevant training courses at the Philippine Tax Academy (PTA)
  • Passing PTA courses is mandatory prior to hiring or promotion under Section 4 of Republic Act 10143, which established the PTA

Starting next year, employees of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) up for promotion and applicants to the agency will be required to take and pass relevant training courses offered by the Philippine Tax Academy (PTA).

The relevant training courses will also be mandatory for hiring or promotion of employees in BOC’s sister agencies Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), according to the Department of Finance (DOF).

DOF undersecretary Gil Beltran said passing these basic PTA courses is mandated under Section 4 of Republic Act (RA) No. 10143, which established the PTA, and its implementing rules and regulations.

Covered by this requirement are all existing employees of BOC, BIR, and BLGF before they can be promoted; all applicants, whether contractual or permanent, before they can be hired in these bureaus; and all local treasurers before they can be appointed, Beltran said in his report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.

Section 4 of the PTA law states: “All existing officials and personnel of the BIR, the BOC and the BLGF shall be required to undergo the re-tooling and enhancement seminars and training programs to be conducted by the PTA. All applicants to the said bureaus shall also be required to pass the basic courses before they can be hired whether on contractual or permanent status.”

Even before the full implementation of this provision, Beltran has been reporting of PTA’s regular induction and orientation courses for new employees of the three bureaus.

These courses were migrated online during the coronavirus outbreak to ensure the Academy can still offer them even with community quarantine measures in place, said Beltran, who oversees DOF’s implementation of the PTA law.

Earlier, Dominguez was appointed ex-officio chairman of the PTA Governing Board, while BIR commissioner Caesar Dulay and BOC commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero have been named ex-officio vice chairpersons.

READ: Dominguez leads Philippine Tax Academy board

Under RA 10143, the PTA “shall serve as a learning institution for tax collectors and administrators of the government and selected applicants from the private sector.”