BIR turns to AI for faster tax help

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is turning to artificial intelligence to help its tax personnel navigate the country’s complex tax rules faster, with Ayala Corporation providing funding and technical support for a new AI-powered assistance tool.

Dubbed Terry The Tax AI Assistant, the system is being developed to help BIR employees quickly retrieve, cross-reference and analyze tax regulations, rulings, issuances and other official tax materials.

The BIR said the project will create a structured and searchable knowledge base capable of generating citation-based, source-grounded responses using official BIR references.

Ayala Corporation will work with the tax agency to establish the program at no cost to the government, while BIR personnel will participate in testing the system before its wider use.

BIR Commissioner Charlito Martin Mendoza said the technology could free revenue officers from time-consuming document searches and allow them to concentrate on more complex tax issues.

“If technology can do more of that retrieval and cross-referencing, our revenuers can spend more of their time examining what the authorities mean, resolving difficult issues, and carrying reforms through,” Mendoza said.

But Mendoza stressed that AI will remain a support tool rather than a substitute for human accountability in tax administration.

“The technology can help assemble the basis for a decision. But the judgment—and the responsibility for acting on it—remains solely ours,” he added.

Mendoza signed the memorandum of understanding formalizing the BIR-Ayala partnership on Aug. 25. Ayala Corporation Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Group Head Karl Kendrick Chua signed the agreement for the private sector.

Chua said the partnership is part of Ayala’s effort to help government institutions become more capable of using emerging technologies.

“Ayala is honored to partner with the BIR in advancing AI in tax service and compliance. Through Terry, the Tax AI Assistant, we aim to help public servants work efficiently, respond to taxpayers with clarity and consistency, and deliver faster, more accessible services,” he said.

“By working together, we can build public institutions that are more responsive, capable, and prepared for the future,” Chua added.

The BIR said the project supports the Digital and Data Transformation and Employee Empowerment pillars of BIR DARES, its initiative to harness technology to improve the quality and speed of the bureau’s operations.

For Mendoza, however, the partnership’s biggest payoff could extend beyond the AI assistant itself.

“The real value of this partnership is not only the tool we will have at the end, but the capability we build within the BIR to understand the technology and continue developing it as our needs evolve,” he said.

The initiative could eventually give BIR personnel a faster way to work through an expanding body of tax rules while maintaining official sources and human judgment at the center of tax decisions.