WHILE assorted show-biz celebs are battling with their own issues with the Bureau of Internal Revenue, two foreign firms with a considerable presence in the Philippines have become the new best friends of go-getting BIR chief Kim Henares.

Deutsche Knowledge Services Pte. Ltd. and Accenture Inc. have emerged as the new top corporate taxpayers in the Philippines’ business process outsourcing (BPO) sector. A wholly owned subsidiary of Frankfurt, Germany-based Deutsche Bank AG, Deutsche Knowledge Services ranked as the BPO industry’s no. 1 taxpayer and no. 195 among all Philippine corporate taxpayers, with P116.88 million in income tax paid.