MANILA, Philippines — The government is targeting to complete by the end of January the implementing rules and regulation of Republic Act 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN), according to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

In an interview, Internal Revenue commissioner Caesar Dulay said the bureau is preparing the implementing rules and regulations of the tax reform bill, in coordination with the Department of Finance (DOF).

“We are working on these, the IRRs, in fact, even before the TRAIN was passed. We have five teams in the BIR that have been working and cooperating with the DOF,” Dulay said.

According to Euvimil Nina Asuncion, a member of the BIR Legal Group and the drafting committee of the IRR, the bureau has so far identified about 10 BIR revenue regulations, which would contain the guidelines for the TRAIN Law.

“We don’t know the others yet but in our count right now, we have public consultations on four (RRs) and we have already submitted to the DOF another four,” Asuncion said.

Asuncion is referring to the RR on income tax, sugar-sweetened beverage excise tax, value-added tax, and cosmetic procedure tax for those undergoing public consultation, while the other four submitted to the DOF include the RR on automobile excise tax, tobacco excise tax, petroleum excise tax, and documentary stamp taxes.

“We are expecting them (DOF) to review it this week and then by the end of next week, hopefully, they will return it to us or the secretary signs it,” Asuncion said.

She said another two regulations would be drafted covering the donors and estate taxes.

Republic Act 10963 or the TRAIN Act, which contains Package 1A of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP), aims to simplify the country’s tax system by lowering personal income tax rates.