MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) received reports confirming 348 new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases among overseas Filipinos, bringing the total tally to 14,389.

This record is the highest since June 2020, surpassing 322 cases reported on January 13 this year.

Meanwhile, 88 Filipinos have recovered from the disease raising the total number of recoveries to 9,052.

To date, no new fatality was reported.

According to the DFA, the reported spike is due to an increase in cases in Europe as well as late reports owing to privacy concerns in the Middle East and Africa.

Based on the latest report, the number of countries and territories where overseas Filipinos with confirmed cases of COVID-19 are reported have risen to 86.

The DFA said it shall continue to keep track of the status of overseas Filipinos, and facilitate repatriations, whenever possible.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines and Russia are exploring possible cooperation that could further improve the country’s tax administration and compliance, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the DOF said officials from the country’s Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Russia’s Federal Tax Service (FTS) met to discuss the latter’s best practices that could be applied in the Philippines’ revenue agencies.

During an online meeting with FTS deputy commissioner Dmitry Volvach last January 13, both countries explored a possible bilateral agreement between the revenue agencies of the two nations.

In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez during a recent executive committee (Execom) meeting, BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa commended Russia’s tax administration system, which, he said, uses artificial intelligence and data analytics to capture taxpayers’ information.

“We had an initial meeting with the Federal Tax Service of Russia, represented by their Deputy Commissioner Dmitry Volvach. They have good tax administration. They started their digitalization in 2016 and, after 5 years, they are now into capturing almost all the data of taxpayers,” said Guballa in his report.

Guballa said they learned from the FTS that it now audits only 1 out of 7,000 taxpayers as a result of Russia’s well-placed and efficient system that encourages people to comply with tax laws.

Last January 15, the BIR launched its Internal Revenue Integrated System (IRIS), which will serve as the agency’s central tool and repository to process taxpayers’ information.

It is expected to be rolled out nationwide in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to Guballa.

The IRIS launching forms part of the deliverables this year under the BIR’s long-term Digital Transformation Program, he added.

MANILA, Philippines—Over 350,000 overseas Filipinos (OFs) have been repatriated since February 2020, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

The DFA reported it has repatriated 4,549 OFs in the last week of January 2021, reaching a total of 356,126 OFs since the department began its repatriation program in February of last year.

Among the recently repatriated are undocumented OFs from Vietnam, Australia, Japan, Jordan and China. There were also three distressed OFs from Indonesia and one OF with a medical condition.

“Out of the total number we brought home this week, 692 were seafarers while 3,857 were land-based OFWs,” the DFA said.

The DFA also reiterated that it continues to coordinate with Philippine government agencies, airlines, and other private companies on the repatriation program for overseas Filipinos. AAC