BIR collected P88.76B in June, 11.7% off target

The government missed its tax collection target for June amid an across-the-board slowdown in collections from small and large taxpayers, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said Monday.

The state tax agency likewise said revenue from non-BIR operations, or taxes collected from the issuance of government securities, fell 16.4 percent in the first half.

For the month of June, the BIR collected P88.76 billion in taxes, P7.42 billion or 9.12 percent more than collections made in June 2012. The growth was slower than the 18.35-percent increase recorded the month before.

As a result, the BIR’s collections missed the P100.5-billion collection target for the month by 11.7 percent.

Collections by the regional offices amounted to P31.53 billion, some P3.5 billion or 12.48 percent more than the collections made in June 2012. Meanwhile, collections by the BIR’s Large Taxpayers Service amounted to P54.75 billion, or P3.87 billion (7.61 percent) higher than the collections made a year ago.

Collections by the BIR of excise taxes on so-called sin products for the first semester of 2013 amounted to P38.54 billion, P12.15 billion or 46.06 percent more than the collections made in the first six months of 2012.

Excise tax collection from tobacco products amounted to P22.38 billion, an increase of P7.77 billion or 53.14 percent. Excise tax collection from alcohol products amounted to P16.16 billion, also up by P4.39 billion or 37.27 percent.

The BIR, which is the government’s main revenue-generating agency, is tasked to collect P1.25 trillion in taxes this year, up 17.59 percent from the 2012 performance.

This takes into account the P34 billion in additional revenues from higher taxes on alcohol and tobacco products that took effect this year. The BIR’s 2013 goal is based on a gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast of 6 percent for the year.