BIR misses January target by 6%

The Bureau of Internal Revenue raised P94.74 billion in January, increasing by 11.3 percent from the year-ago collections of P85.15 billion but falling short of the month’s target of P100.93 billion by 6.1 percent.

Based on BIR data released Wednesday, P89.03 billion of January collection accounted for cash. Compared to the cash goal for the month, the intake fell short by 8.2 percent.

The rest of the revenues in January represented P5.71 billion in non-cash inflows such as payments that were made using tax credits.

The higher “sin tax” rates approved by the Congress and signed by President Aquino late last year took effect on Jan. 1 this year.

Last week, government revenue officials said they were boosting efforts to pursue big-league tax cheats as the BIR strives to strengthen itself as a law enforcer.

“Our challenge is not to look for the large taxpayers (but) to look for the large, missing taxpayers,” Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said in a statement. The BIR’s Large Taxpayer Service (LTS) office contributes about two-thirds of BIR collections yearly.

According to the BIR, there were 2,019 large taxpayers who paid a total of P650 billion in 2012 or 64 percent of the agency’s P1.02-trillion cash earnings.

Large taxpayers are corporations that have at least P300 million in capital; multinational enterprises with authorized capitalization of P300 million; publicly listed corporations; universal and commercial banks; taxpayers with an authorized capitalization of at least P100 million and belonging to either the banking, insurance, telecommunication, utilities, petroleum, tobacco and alcohol sectors; and corporate taxpayers engaged in metallic mineral production. All branches of these entities are also considered large taxpayers as well as subsidiaries and affiliates of conglomerates or group of companies already listed as large taxpayers.

For 2013, the LTS is tasked to raise P768.3 billion, which will be 63 percent of the BIR’s cash target of P1.22 trillion. The amount means an 18-percent increase in the LTS’s 2012 collections.

In Malacañang, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda reiterated the Aquino administration’s commitment to intensified tax collection efforts by running after tax evaders.

Lacierda said during the regular press briefing in the presidential palace on Wednesday that the BIR has stepped up the filing of cases against tax evaders as part of the government’s commitment to tread the straight and righteous path.

The government has stepped up the filing of cases against tax evaders with 28 new cases filed since November 2012. According to the Department of Finance (DOF), 11 new cases were filed under the Run after Tax Evaders (RATE) program while 17 new cases were filed under the Run after the Smugglers (RATS) initiative.

The DOF and its attached agencies are working with the Department of Justice and the judiciary for the swift resolution of the cases.