BIR misses tax collection target anew

Although the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected over 20 percent more taxes in September, it again missed its target for the month.

The Department of Finance (DOF), the BIR’s parent agency, has set significantly higher monthly goals for the bureau this year as the government aims to boost spending for social services and infrastructure.

The tax take amounted to P86.03 billion, up by 21 percent from that of the same month last year. It was the second consecutive month that the BIR registered growth in collection of more than 20 percent. Still, the tax take for the month was 1.9-percent short of its collection goal, the DOF said in a report.

The BIR contributes the most to the nation’s coffers. It has implemented measures to curb tax evasion and under-declaration of income to shore up the state’s resources.

One measure calls for a tighter audit of industries and self-employed professionals. Also, the BIR regularly files charges against suspected tax evaders.

Although its collections tend to fall   short of the monthly targets, the tax bureau considers its full-year goal of P1.25 trillion to be attainable. This goal is 18 percent higher than its actual full-year collection last year.

Total BIR collections in the first nine months of the year already reached P897.95 billion. This was up year-on-year by 16 percent but it fell short of the target by 3 percent.

Apart from tighter audits and the filing of cases against tax cheats, the BIR also decided to recognize the country’s top taxpayers to boost collections.

By drawing up a list of the top 500 individual and corporate taxpayers, the BIR hopes to encourage proper payment of taxes and discourage cheating.

The BIR earlier this week released the list of the top taxpayers of 2012. Vivan Que Azcona of the chain Mercury Drug was the top individual taxpayer last year, remitting P131.43 million.

BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said that, in compiling the list of top taxpayers, the bureau took into account both the regular income taxes paid by individual taxpayers themselves and the taxes on employees’ income that had been withheld.

Earlier, it was erroneously reported that only the former was taken into account in coming up with the list of the top taxpayers for 2012.

The BIR used to exclude tax on compensation income from determining the list of top taxpayers. Lately, the bureau decided to include it for enhanced reporting.

Henares said the BIR would soon publish the list of top corporate taxpayers in 2012.