JOANNA MAE B.

SATAIRAPAN

BSAIS-4A

Tax Compliance Awareness of Selected Small-Scale Businesses in Virac, Catanduanes

Kind of Research: Conclusive Quantitative Research

Justification:

The municipality of Virac, the capital town of Catanduanes, has been growing

progressively for the past years. Most of its areas are excessively loaded with commercial

spaces. There are business establishments located at particular Barangays, from small to

large scale and those online-based businesses. It is assumed that actively operating

businesses, either physical stores or online business, are legally registered and so obliged to

pay taxes.

As I have observed, dominant number of businesses were identified as SMEs. This

topic will determine the tax compliance practices of selected small-scale businesses in Virac,

Catanduanes. The list of businesses will be requested and gathered from DTI. I chose this

topic because I find it relevant to the country’s current issues. A lot of Filipinos spice up the

issue regarding taxes and become a huge concern of people especially those who pay tax

without any prejudice. It was consistently mentioned nationwide, particularly in politics. But

on this paper, will talk about the small-scale businesses. I believe any size of businesses

must comply with tax laws and regulations of the country. We all know that it is one of the

social responsibilities of each citizen, professionals and business owners, paying the right

amount of tax at the right time. Above all, it emphasizes fairness and justice for every

Filipino citizen. Taxes are citizen’s contribution to economic development of the country. It

helps in funding local to national projects and programs which in return will benefit the

people.
 However, late filing results to penalties and/or failure to comply exposes either tax

avoidance or tax evasion and in some cases, it is punishable by law. According to Tax Code

Sec 225 Failure to file and/or pay any internal revenue tax at the time or times required by

law or regulation will result to criminal penalty fine of not less than P10,000 and

imprisonment of not less than one (1) year but not more than 10 years. In this paper, we

wanted to identify the number of listed small-scale business that are practicing tax

compliance and noncompliance if there’s any. We will be providing questions such as; are

they registered on both DTI and BIR, if yes, what are the tax/es imposed in their businesses,

what are the modes of filing, is it difficult to file taxes. All information and data gathered

from our respondents will be kept with utmost confidentiality.