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How the BIR drove me insane during my 2014 income tax filing

Last week marked the most aggravating income tax filing I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing. The Philippine Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) implemented an electronic filing system supposedly to streamline services. Good in theory. Too bad it sucks.

I was done with my income tax return (Form 1701 for professionals and self-employed individuals) since mid-March. There are several reasons for this:

  1. I hate rushing.
  2. I only have two steady clients.
  3. I take the 40% optional standard deduction over the itemized deductions.

All this adds up to a really simple income tax return. But because of the rushed roll-out and the lousy infrastructure, the BIR’s eBIRForms  setup resulted in even MORE wasted time and effort. But how much time and effort?

NO, it is NOT that simple
NO, it is NOT that simple

I completed my tax return using the offline eBIRForms software package and printed three copies for manual filing. This is what I did for my previous 2251M (monthly percentage tax) and 1701Q (quarterly income tax) forms. The messenger for our family business was going to file my return along with my February 2015 2251M in RDO 52, except that the BIR refused to accept my tax return because it was a manual filing. I was supposed to register with the online eBIRForms website and file the return online. Okay, fair enough.

  1. Register with the online eBIRForms – done!
  2. Use the offline eBIRForms software to export my tax return to an XML file for upload to the online portal – done!
  3. Upload the XML file to the online portal – WAIT!

No matter how many re-export + uninstall-reinstall combos I did, the exported XML file was corrupt. No, the irony was not lost on me.

I had to wait until the second week of April to do the filing myself because you know, I was busy doing my job. A pro tip when visiting your RDO: get queue numbers for the line you think you should be in and for the Officer of the Day. The line to talk to the Officer of the Day usually goes fast – or at least faster than the lines for actual transactions – so you’ll get to double-check your documents with the OD before you get to the head of the transaction line.

I was ready to duke it out with the OD using non-stop arguments that they HAD to let me file my return manually because their software was buggy. Instead, my consultation with the OD left me speechless for several seconds. The BIR staff, or at least the ones in RDO 52, knew that the software was busted! As per the OD, the exported XML file for Form 1701 is corrupt because they “hadn’t finished” the form in the software. AND YOU DID NOT TELL PEOPLE THIS WHY?!?! They told me to print out the confirmation email from registering to the online eBIRForms site and attach it to my documents so that they’ll accept my manual filing.

Keeping frustration on the outside
How I felt like on the inside. Photo used under a CC-Attribution license.

Needless to say, I didn’t have a copy of that confirmation email on hand so I had to hunt for a nearby internet cafe. Thank you BIR security guard and the guard at the nearby pawnshop! When I went back to file at 12:15pm, the staff in the ITR receiving section were out to lunch! When I caught someone about to leave, he told me to wait for them to come back at 1pm.

Me: “Di ba may ‘No Noon Break’ policy?” [Isn’t there a ‘no noon break’ policy?]
BIR Employee With No Respect for Taxpayers: “Sa States lang yan kasi mga robot sila. Di pwedeng ganyan sa Pilipinas.” [That (policy) only applies to the United States because they’re robots. That can’t be done in the Philippines.]

WTF WAS THAT?!?! The “No Noon Break” policy means that you guys take turns eating lunch so that your desks are never unmanned! The guy had the gall to tell me to go out and eat lunch and come back later. Aww hell no! I skipped my lunch so that I could be the first to file when they came back.

I breathed a sigh of relief when another BIR employee finally accepted my manual filing. I found out much later that I breathed too soon. When I submitted my returns, the BIR guy removed the attached 2307 (certificate of tax withheld) forms, saying that they “weren’t needed”. I found that really weird because you attach the 2307 forms to all of the tax returns you submit as proof that you’ve already paid tax on your income. What the guy didn’t say was that the hardcopies of the 2307s weren’t needed because you are required to submit scanned softcopies on DVD! *headdesk headdesk headdesk*

I want to be a good citizen and pay the “correct” taxes as mandated by the law (whether the existing tax rate is fair is another topic entirely). I really, really, REALLY do. But how the heck am I supposed to do that when the BIR makes it so damned hard?! And bonus: the March 2551M, 2551Q, and 1st quarter 1701Q are due on April 20.

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My horrible customer service experience with VMV Hypoallergenics

Disclaimers before this post:
1. I love VMV Hypoallergenics‘ products. Theirs is the only sunblock I use. They produce the only makeup I can use. Love their hair conditioner and moisturizing milk lotion too. So I’m writing this because while their products are fantastic and worth every peso, bad customer service can happen anywhere.

2. This has been settled. They apologized and gave me a certificate for a free facial BUT STILL. This experience needs to be told so that there’s a record of this event. Hopefully it doesn’t happen ever again.

The situation:
Late December 2013, I placed two separate orders in VMV Hypoallergenics Philippines’ online store. I placed two orders because the 2nd item I ordered (Armada Face and Body Shield 60 sunblock) wasn’t available the first time around. My first order of the Armada Sport 70 sunblock arrived in January 2014 but the Shield 60 did not. I called the VMV office and after their CS agent checked, found out that 1) both orders were accidentally tagged with the same shipping number, resulting in my second order being classified as “shipped” even though it was not, and 2) the Shield 60 was already out of stock again. Okay, no problem with that. Slip-ups happen occasionally. I asked for a refund for the Shield 60 since I’d changed my mind and wanted to get the Face Cover 30 instead. Here comes the shitty part.

VMV refund

As you can see in the email notification, VMV’s customer service unit recorded my request for refund on January 8. The email said the refund would take 2-4 weeks, although the agent on the phone said that it would actually take 4-6 weeks. She said this was an issue with their payment gateway. Okay, fine. Well, not exactly fine since it meant waiting for 4-6 weeks to get my refund but what can you do, right?

Come February 3, I still hadn’t received the refund. I call VMV’s customer service again. Their agent said that they’d prioritize it.

I call again on February 14 to follow up. The agent apologized, said she’d call me back within the day. She never did.

Come February 18, I was royally pissed already. I called VMV again to follow up. Their agent was useless, didn’t give me a straight answer as to why I hadn’t received it yet. I post and tweet pissed-off messages on the official VMV Hypoallergenics Philippines Facebook page and Twitter. These posts get me very apologetic replies within a few hours. The same agent says that the refund request was submitted to their payment gateway last February 14 (HUWAW, February 14 lang?!) and that I should get the refund by next week. She also offered me a coupon for 25% off and a free yacht bag as an apology.

By February 28, I still hadn’t received the refund!!! I called BPI to check if they’d received the refund request. The BPI agent said that she couldn’t check the status from where she was. She could only see if it had been reflected in my account and no, I hadn’t received it yet. Cue ANOTHER angry Facebook post. They replied via Facebook, said that BPI said that there’s usually a 5-7 day wait then a charge slip is issued to authorize the charge reversal. By my count, if they’d submitted the refund request by February 18, then the 7-working day deadline was February 27. Adrianne, the head of the web team for VMV, called me to apologize again and said that if BPI still has not reflected the refund by next week, then she’ll submit a request to her superiors to authorize a cash refund instead. She also said that VMV was offering me a certificate for a free facial for the hassle and apologized again (Adrianne sounded sincere and I like her more than the previous CS agent I talked to).

I finally got my refund on March 6 after two freaking months. Texted Adrianne to tell her that I got the refund. She called, said that she was glad that I got the refund and that the offer for the free facial was still open. I accepted it (heck, I went through all that trouble so why not accept it?) and the certificate arrived in the mail last March 8.

vmv certificate1

Moral of the story? Keep following up with companies. Seriously. It pains me that this happened with VMV Hypoallergenics, a company whose products I actually love (perhaps I shall post a nice story about their awesomesauce skincare products when I get the time). I placed orders after after the second one and they all arrived complete and on time, so it looks like this fiasco was a very unusual occurrence. Hopefully it stays that way.

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My Shopping Box versus Johnny Air Cargo – the ultimate comparison chart

Online shopping addicts in the Philippines usually have two go-to freight forwarders for their precious hauls: My Shopping Box and Johnny Air Cargo.These companies offer the same services: they accept your packages in the US then forward them to you here in the Philippines. But which company offers the better value? Let’s find out through the My Shopping Box versus Johnny Air Cargo ultimate comparison chart!

*Note: The MSB info comes from their website. The JAC info was given to me by their representative, Ms. Analyn, via email.

SERVICES AND CHARGESMy Shopping Box (MSB)
Johnny Air Cargo (JAC)
Airfreight Class 1
(Clothes, shoes, toys, books, kitchen appliances, sporting goods, etc.)		$5.99/lb$5.99/lb (Metro Manila)
$6.49/lb (Provincial)
Airfreight Class 2
(consumer electronics, costume jewelry and accessories, designer handbags, electrical spare parts, precision instruments)		$8.50/lb$6.50/lb (Metro Manila)
$7.00/lb (Provincial)
Sea freight
(all allowed products)		$2.50/lb

All fragile electrical devices packed below 30 lbs chargeable weight with additional charge of $1.25/lb based on chargeable weight.

All items >30 lbs are considered “oversized”, with extra charge of 30% of the chargeable weight		none
Minimum shipping chargenone2 lbs
Extra feesnone$50 per laptop
$25 per electronic item (tablets, e-readers, mp3 player, phone)
$25 per other item worth $500 and above
Fixed fees$25 annual subscription fee$5 per shipment
ConsolidationNone. Packages are individually tagged and tracked even if they arrive on the same dayNone, unless the packages arrive at their office on the same day
Storage15 days free of charge, $0.20/lb/day afterwardsNone. Items are shipped as soon as they arrive in their office
Door-to-door deliveryIncluded in the shipping feeAdditional charge of $5-$20. Shipping fee only includes pickup at JAC branches.
Delivery time for air freight10-12 days from their California warehouse to Manila (as per MSB)

My previous order timeline:
Oct 19: arrival at MSB California warehouse
Oct 22: scanned into MSB system, authorized shipment
Oct 31: delivery to Manila address		5 to 7 days from New York office to Manila (as per JAC)

My previous order timeline:
Jan 2: arrival at JAC New Jersey office, transfer to New York office
Jan 7: shipped from JAC NY office
Jan 15: arrival in JAC Makati branch for pickup
PaymentOnline via credit card when you authorize the shipment from their warehouseCash or credit card upon pickup at JAC branch. Charges are converted at the airline rate on the day you pick it up + 12% VAT
Ongoing promos (as of November 2013)Free annual subscription when you sign up using Globe GCash American Express Virtual Pay or BDO Credit CardThe JAC website says they offer provincial door-to-door shipping for only $5 extra but Analyn didn't mention this in her email.

Another thing to remember: the per pound shipping cost refers to chargeable shipping weight. “Chargeable shipping weight” can either be 1) the actual weight of the item or 2) the volumetric weight, whichever is larger. Volumetric weight is calculated using LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT (in inches) of the package ÷ 166. In short, a heavy book will likely be charged according to its actual weight while a stuffed toy will be charged according to the volumetric weight. If there’s a difference between the weight indicated in your package tracking information and the weight calculated by MBS and JAC, that’s because USPS, FedEx, and UPS usually display the actual weight of the package and not the volumetric weight.

Which company is for you? I’ve tried both companies and didn’t have any trouble with either of them, though it was only one shipment per company. Just take the time to calculate at least a rough figure for the shipping cost to prevent any nasty surprises when the bill comes.

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The pros and cons of the GCash American Express Virtual Pay

gcash amex

The premise of the Globe GCash American Express virtual card is pretty simple: for a P250 annual subscription fee, GCash gives you a virtual United States-based American Express credit card that’s funded by your GCash Wallet. You can then use the virtual credit card and its accompanying details (credit card number, security code, and expiry date and US-based billing and shipping address and telephone number) to shop at websites that don’t ship to the Philippines. The US address is offered in partnership with My Shopping Box, a company that accepts packages on your behalf and ships them to your Philippine address for an additional fee. Now, the GCash American Express virtual card is NOT new – it was launched last October 2012 – but this was my first time to use it.

How to register and how it works:

Here are the pros and cons based on my experience so far:

The good:
1. It works! I’ve already used it twice and it really does work like a credit card. However, please note that I had the packages sent to my aunt instead of MSB so I can’t comment on MSB just yet. The peso equivalent is deducted real-time from your GCash wallet.

EDIT: I have since used My Shopping Box to deliver several orders. I would only recommend using MSB if you are shipping small, high value items via air. Their rates for sea cargo are okay but they take a very, very long time to deliver. Most sea freight forwarders take 30-40 days to deliver to Metro Manila. In comparison, MSB takes 50++ days. My last sea delivery order left the US on December 15 and I received it on February 8.

The cons:
1. The GCash dollar-peso exchange rate is hideously high. The first time I used it, their exchange rate was $1 = PhP 46 compared to the BPI MasterCard rate of PhP 44. This problem was fixed by my third transaction, when their rate was “only” 50 centavos higher than BPI MasterCard. I hope this remains the case and was not a fluke.

2. The card and your transactions may get flagged as possible fraud and canceled. This happened during my second order with the same website. My first order worth $100 went through just fine. However, my second order worth $440 was flagged and canceled. This was because the card’s US billing address did not match my IP address, which was obviously in the Philippines. I got around this by placing my order via phone (and paying international call rates) instead of ordering online. Now, I’m not sure if the card number is permanently flagged and thus unusable or if they flag on a per-order basis. Sigh.

My tip: keep the order total low. If you can afford to, break it up into several smaller orders.

3. In the event of order cancellation, the credit back to your GCash Wallet is INFURIATINGLY SLOW. MY GAWD. Remember how my $440 order got canceled? I couldn’t fault the website because they were only protecting themselves from fraud. Their customer service agent was very helpful and was the one who suggested that I place my orders via phone in the future. However, I WILL and CAN fault GCash and Globe for their fucked-up system that takes 3 FREAKING MONTHS to credit back MY MONEY. The GCash funds were deducted the second I clicked “Check Out” but Globe is going to take 3 FREAKING MONTHS to credit back the funds after my order was canceled. HOLY HELL.

So yes, take note.

Overall, the GCash American Express virtual card is definitely a nice thing to have for as long as nothing goes wrong. Once something goes south… good luck with that.

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Experiencing bliss at Chocolate Mint Spa

They serve you hot or iced tea while you wait.

After three days of the exhausting madness that was Toycon 2012, I spent two afternoons last week trying to de-stress. My very generous mother gave me her coupon for a free Swedish aromatherapy massage at Chocolate Mint Spa, as well as the use of the other coupons in the booklet.

The first thing you need to know about the Chocolate Mint Spa is that they take their business hours seriously. They disconnect their phone outside of business hours (1pm-1am). While this is an admirable trait, I definitely would have appreciated it if, instead, they left the phone connected and used an answering machine to tell me that they’re not open yet and to leave a message to set an appointment. How was I supposed to know that the phone was just temporarily disconnected and not broken like I’d originally thought?

Chocolate Mint Spa (CMS) is located on the second floor of the building that also houses Banco de Oro along President’s Ave. in BF Homes, Paranaque. The building is across the street from Pancake House and Starbucks. The stairs to the second floor are on the left side. The sign is just above the stairs and is kind of small, so just look out for it.

Once you enter the spa, you’re greeted by a cozy atmosphere. The plush chairs are comfortable and they offer you a choice of hot or iced tea while you wait. They only turned on the ambiance music when I entered so hooray for energy conservation techniques.

Continue reading “Experiencing bliss at Chocolate Mint Spa”

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Dreaming of a massage from the Oils and Scrubs spa

There are two reasons why I love “groupons” (or group coupons, as Groupon as technically a brand but whatever :P): 1) I love getting stuff at a discount (who doesn’t?) and 2) it gets me to try new places I wouldn’t have otherwise. Aids and I ended up trying Oils and Scrubs Spa before I left for Palawan after buying a voucher for a honey and oatmeal treatment, glutathione body scrub, and one hour massage and I have to say, the experience was just heavenly.

First off: the spa is hard to find at the moment because the facade of the building they’re in is under renovation so the spa window is hidden under a blue tarp. Ack. The spa is almost at the corner of Arnaiz Ave. and Amorsolo St in Makati, beside BPI.

This was my first time to get a body scrub so I had no idea what to expect. With our scrub and massage combination, the scrub is done first then the massage. They give you disposable underwear to wear and the bed is covered in plastic. The therapist rubbed the glutathione in first, starting from my shoulders then down to the rest of my body and my arms. Even the body scrub was relaxing! The glutathione scrub is supposed to result in fairer skin, but of course you need multiple sessions for that so I can’t say if the treatment worked on me or not. The honey and oatmeal treatment came next, with the oatmeal acting as a mild exfoliator and honey as a moisturizer. Lucky for me that oatmeal happens to be good for sensitive skin. The treatment was very… sticky. LOL. Like I said, it was my first time to get a body scrub and I found my muscles cramping from having to stay in the same position for the entire time I was left alone after the application of the treatment. I could have moved but moving while sticky was more uncomfortable than the muscle cramps. I was also at the mercy of the “relaxing” nature sounds soundtrack of the spa. Nothing against recorded nature sounds, but they don’t relax me. I would have preferred to hear some Foo Fighters instead but that’s me 😛 Next time I go here, I’ll get the non-sticky body scrubs.

After an eternity of stickiness (though it was probably only about 15 minutes), I was instructed to shower and wash off the oatmeal and honey. Be sure to ask for a fresh towel prior to getting into the shower as they initially only provide you with a bathrobe and the robe isn’t exactly that useful for drying off. This is also when you toss the disposable underwear and put your own undies on for the massage.

The massage was wonderful. I wish I could tell you what massage style they used (Oils and Scrubs offers Swedish, Shiatsu, and Oriental Stick Massage) or how exactly they pressed into my aching muscles (I requested for a harder massage than their standard) but I conked out after around 15 minutes. Now, I rarely fall asleep during a massage – who can sleep when someone’s prodding you every minute? – but this time was one of those rare times where sheer exhaustion combined with the perfect pressure and produced a vegetable Macy,

My rating: 9/10 (I’d have given them a 10/10 but I live in Paranaque so their place isn’t convenient for me and they’re admittedly on the pricier side if you pay full price).

OILS AND SCRUBS SPA CO.
Ground Floor, Gervasia Centre, Amorsolo Street,
Legaspi Village, Makati City Philippines
Tel. No.: (632) 519-6782, (63) 917 5250082

Download their service menu

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Skincare, the Dermalosophy way

The people who know me know that I’m probably one of the least kikay people on the planet. I only use makeup when I need to go into the office and wear contacts only when I’m in costume (as per XO Aids, “Walang Jedi na may glasses“).I finally caved and got my first facial and acne pricking last year – the acne just got so bad – but I had to stop about three months ago because of the expense. I started getting facials again last March because of the Groupon deal for a deep cleansing facial and intense pulsed laser (IPL) underarm treatment at Dermalosophy and I have to say, it was absolutely worth it.

Photobucket
The Dermalosophy clinic

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