BIR beats collection target anew

The Bureau of Internal Revenue collected P110.8 billion in November, meeting its monthly target for the second month in a row.

The BIR’s collection also grew at a double-digit rate for the ninth month this year.

According to BIR data released Monday, November collection was 7.6 percent, or P7.8 billion, higher than the P103-billion goal for that month.

As this developed, Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares said her agency was committed to reaching the P1.07-trillion collection goal for 2012.

“We will be working very hard until the last day [of the year], we don’t know what the numbers would be,” she said in an interview, when asked about the prospects of meeting the target.

Monday’s data revealed that the yield for November was 19.4 percent, or P18 billion, higher than the P92.8 billion collected in November 2011.

Tax inflows for last month brought revenues for the 11 months to November to a total of P969.3 billion, which is 91 percent of the P1.07 trillion full-year goal.

Further, the 11-month collection was 14.1 percent, or P119.8 billion, higher than the P849.5 billion posted in the same period of 2011.

With P96.8 billion more to raise in order to reach the full-year target, Henares said it would take extra effort.

Data from the Bureau of Treasury showed that in the past three years, BIR’s December collection was highest at only P82.4 billion in 2010.

“I have often said that I am confident we would reach P1 trillion this year,” Henares said. “Whether we would meet the P1.066 trillion [remains to be seen].”

In earlier interviews, Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima had repeatedly expressed “certainty” about Henares becoming “the first trillionaire BIR commissioner.”

BIR data showed that, in November alone, the agency raised P107.8 billion in cash, an increase of 19.6 percent year on year and 9.3 percent higher than the target.

Non-cash collection, in the form of tax credits, amounted to P2.9 billion, up 13.4 percent year on year but 31.1 percent less than the target.

Based on previous statements from the Department of Finance, November was the ninth month this year that the BIR posted double-digit, year-on-year gains for monthly collections.

If the Bureau of Customs performs similarly, it would mean that foe the sixth month this year both agencies showed double-digit yearly growth in their monthly yield.

Finance officials have regained footing on their revenue outlook for the coming years as the Congress bicameral committee last week passed the sin tax bill, which Purisima said is expected to raise some P34 billion in the first year of implementation when it becomes law.

However, the amount is less than both the P60 billion that Malacañang originally wanted and the P40 billion that state economic managers said was the minimum amount that would enable excise tax reforms to achieve their goals.

Purisima had said that over the succeeding four years of implementation, the Congress-approved bill would mean P184.31 billion in additional collections from tobacco and alcoholic beverages.