Collections of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in November grew by a double-digit pace, but were still short of what the agency described as a “very high target” set by the Department of Finance (DOF) for the month.
The BIR collected P126.46 billion in taxes last month, the DOF said Friday.
The amount was about 14 percent higher than the P110.77 billion recorded in the same month last year. But it was 3 percent short of the P130.57-billion target set by the DOF.
From January to November, the tax bureau collected a total of P1.12 trillion—about 16 percent higher than the P969.49 billion reported in the same period last year.
Also, it was nearly 2 percent short of the goal of P1.16 trillion set for the period.
The BIR’s tax take may have been growing by a double-digit rate since the start of the year, but the agency continues to miss its targets.
Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima earlier said the missed targets should not be a cause of concern. He admitted that the DOF deliberately set “very high” monthly collection goals in order to push the BIR to implement more measures that would help plug revenue leaks.
Purisima said the BIR should be credited for increasing tax collection by a pace much faster than the growth of the economy.
At the same time, however, there is still much room for improvement as far as tax collection is concerned given the significant amount of foregone revenues due to tax evasion, he said.
According to an estimate by the World Bank, the Philippine government loses about P450 billion in potential revenue a year due to tax evasion.
The BIR said non-payment of taxes and under-declaration of incomes remained rampant across all sectors, including self-employed professionals and entrepreneurs.
To reduce the government’s revenue losses, the BIR files tax evasion cases once every two weeks under its Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) program.
It also has issued several regulations and circulars clarifying tax obligations of various sectors and groups of professionals.