RMO No. 01-2010 — Prescribes the policies and guidelines for the conduct of conferences and meetings Digest | Full Text

1 SUBJECT REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES TO DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE BUREAU OF INTERNAL REVENUE January 4, 2010 REVENUE MEMORANDUM ORDER No. 1-2010 : Conduct of Conferences and Meetings : All internal revenue officers and others concerned 1. OBJECTIVES This Order is being issued to prescribe the policies and guidelines for conducting conferences and meetings, including the Management Committee (Mancom) Meetings, Command Conferences, Regional Director's Conferences, Assistant Chief Conferences, Functional Chief Meetings, Staff Meetings, and Annual Work Planning and Key Performance Indicator Setting Conference. II. POLICIES AND GUIDELINES 1. Importance of Meetings Holding of regular meetings is an important aspect of tax administration. Meetings provide the avenue for communicating the important concerns and issues of a particular office, then discussing these issues and resolving any problems encountered. For this reason, it shall be the responsibility of the Head of each Office in the BIR to conduct on a regular basis meetings and conferences. 2. Categories of meetings The following are the categories of meetings and conferences with an indication on who is responsible for calling and presiding these meetings: 2.1 Management Committee (Mancom) Meeting � Meeting of the top executives of the BIR consisting of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and all Deputy Commissioners. This meeting is presided by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. 2.2 Command Conference � Meeting of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners, Regional Directors and Revenue District Officers. This meeting is presided by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. 2.3 Director's Conference � Meeting of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Deputy Commissioners, selected Assistant Commissioners, and Regional Directors. This meeting is presided by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. 2.4 Assistant Chief's Conference � Meeting of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Deputy Commissioners, selected Assistant Commissioners, Assistant Regional Directors and Assistant Revenue District Offices. This meeting is presided by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue.

2 2.5 Functional Chief's Conference � Meeting of the concerned Assistant Commissioner with his/her Revenue Region (RR) office counterpart. Specifically, this includes the meeting to be presided by the Assistant Commissioner (Assessment Service) with the RR Assessment Division Chiefs; the Assistant Commissioner (Collection Service) with the RR Collection Division Chiefs; the Assistant Commissioner (Legal Service) with the RR Legal Division Chiefs; the Assistant Commissioner (Enforcement Service) with the RR Special Investigation Division Chiefs; the ACIR (FAS) with the RR Administrative Division and Finance Division Chiefs; the Assistant Commissioner (Taxpayers Assistance Service) with the RR Tax Assistance Officers; and the Assistant Commissioner (Human Resource Development Service) with the RR Human Resource Management Unit Chief. 2.6 Staff Meeting � Meeting of Head of Office with selected members of their staff. Specifically, this includes the meeting to be presided by the Commissioner with the Assistant Commissioners reporting to the Office of the Commissioner; the Deputy Commissioner with the Assistant Commissioners in the particular Group; the Assistant Commissioner with the Division Chiefs; the Regional Director with the Revenue District Officers and RR Division Chiefs; the National Office Division Chiefs with the Section Chiefs; and, the Revenue District Officer with the Section Chiefs. 2.7 Annual Work Planning and Key Performance Indicator Setting Conference� Meeting to be presided by the Commissioner with the National Office Heads of Offices and with the Regional Directors and Revenue District Offices. The presiding officer of all the meetings and conferences specified above can call other BIR officials or employees to participate in the meetings. 3. Guidelines 3.1 The specified presiding officer of the meetings and conferences specified above shall schedule and call regular meetings. The frequency of the meetings shall be as follows: 3.1.1 Mancom Meeting � at least once a week; 3.1.2 Command Conference � at least six times a year; 3.1.3 Director's Conference � at least six times a year; 3.1.4 Assistant's Chief's Conference � at least twice a year; 3.1.5 Functional Chief's Conference � at least twice a year; 3.1.6 Staff Meeting � at least once a month; and 3.1.7 Annual Work Planning and Key Performance Indicator Setting Conference � at least once a year preparatory to the start of a new year. 3.2 The presiding officer shall schedule in advance the meetings for the year. In relation to this, all presiding officers, except the National Office Division Chief and Revenue District Officer specified in item 1.6 of section 2 above (Staff Meeting), shall submit the list to the Chief of the Management Division (MD) not later than the first working day of the year. The Chief of the MD shall coordinate with the presiding officers to ensure that the meetings and conferences will not conflict or coincide with each other. The Chief of the MD shall

3 circularize the schedule of all meetings and conferences not later than January 15th of each year. 3.3 In order that the Mancom may be able to address immediately the issues raised in the Staff Meeting called by the Regional Directors, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and the Deputy Commissioners shall endeavour to attend the Regional Staff Meetings. The Chief of the MD shall coordinate with all concerned officials to ensure that there will be a member of the Mancom attending the Regional Directors' staff meeting. 3.4 The Commissioner of Internal Revenue or his representative shall attend the Deputy Commissioner's Staff Meeting, the Assistant Commissioner's Staff Meeting and the Functional Chief's Conference. The Chief of the MD shall coordinate with the concerned officials to ensure this attendance. 3.5 The following must be done for each meeting or conference: 3.5.1 A program or agenda must be sent to all participants at least a week before the meeting or conference; 3.5.2 Meetings shall start on time in line with the "On Time: BIR Time" policy as prescribed in RMO No. 44-2009; 3.5.3 Minutes of meeting shall be taken; 3.5.4 The minutes shall include a notation as who attended and who did not attend the meeting; 3.5.5 The meeting shall dwell on activities or actions that must be done to address concerns and issues affecting the particular office; 3.5.6 The person responsible and the deadline established for the activities or actions above shall be indicated in the minutes of meeting; and 3.5.7 Matters arising from the previous meetings shall be taken up and resolved. 3.6 The minutes of the Staff Meeting and the Functional Staff Meeting shall be distributed to all participants not later than the following day after the meeting. The submission of the minutes of meeting of the other conferences shall be governed by the guidelines in Section 4 below. 3.7 The duly approved minutes of meeting of the Functional Staff Meeting and the Staff Meeting shall be submitted to the Chief of the MD not later than three days after the meeting. The Chief of the MD shall scrutinize the minutes and send a summary of the matters requiring their attention to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and other officials not later than one week from the receipt of the minutes of meeting. 4. Command Conference, Director's Conference, Assistant Chief's Conference and Annual Work Planning and Key Performance Indicator Setting Conference The Assistant Commissioner, Planning and Policy Service (PPS) shall be primarily responsible for the administrative requirements of the above-mentioned conferences. The Assistant Commissioner of the PPS can call on any revenue official to assist in the preparation and holding of the command conferences. The following tasks, among others, must be done for each conference:

4 4.1 Preparation of agenda/program (with inputs from the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and other officials) and the Revenue Special Order, which shall be distributed at least a week before the conference; 4.2 Including in the program, when applicable, the special events such as the "Hataw Exercise," press conference, launch of projects, etc.; 4.3 Prescribing the presentation format/template to be used by the presenters in the conference; 4.4 Compilation of the presentation and conference materials for distribution to each participant. The materials should be compiled at least three days before the start of the conference to ensure that these can be printed for all participants; 4.5 Invitation of a speaker who will talk on a topic of interest during the conference; 4.6 Coordination with other offices for the venue, facilities, and food requirements; 4.7 Providing for the photo and/or video coverage by the Tax Information and Education Division of special segments of the conference; 4.8 Taking down of Minutes of the Conference on a real time basis to be projected on the screen during the conference; 4.9 Distribution of the Minutes of the Conference to all attendees not later than the day following the conference for comments/approval of the attendees not later than two days after the meeting; 4.10 Conducting a survey/evaluation of the proceedings and other issues; 4.11 Sending out reminders and/or notices to person/s responsible for the completion of the assignments or tasks identified during the conference not later than three days following the meeting; and 4.12 Monitoring of the submission of assignments within the prescribed deadlines. 5. Performance Audit The Management Division shall monitor compliance of BIR offices to the provisions of this Order. The MD shall conduct a performance audit of selected BIR offices to evaluate their compliance thereto. The results of the performance audit and compliance of the BIR offices to the provisions of this RMO shall form part of the Key Performance Indicator in the Performance Evaluation System of BIR officials for 2010. III. Repealing Clause All revenue issuances inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed or modified accordingly. IV. Effectivity This Order shall take effect immediately. (Original Signed) JOEL L. TAN-TORRES Commissioner of Internal Revenue A