BIR misses April collection target

MANILA, Philippines—Collections of the Bureau of Internal Revenue fell short of its target in April as treasury bills and bonds trading, a taxed activity, generated less-than-programmed revenues, the agency reported on Monday.

The BIR was quick to add, however, that cumulative tax collection from January to April remained above the target for the four-month period as tax audits and collection efforts were intensified.

The BIR is the biggest revenue earner among line agencies and its revenue-generation performance greatly influences the national government’s ability to meet its own deficit-reduction goals.

Tax collection for April amounted to P103.39 billion, or 1.5-percent short of the P105.12-billion target for the month.

From January to April, the BIR collected P302.94 billion, exceeding by 0.3 percent the target of P302.16 billion for the period.

The tax agency said collections for April and in the first four months were higher than those recorded in the same periods last year by 13 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares said she was pleased with the performance of the tax bureau’s personnel, but acknowledged that the country needed much more resources to sufficiently cover all the country’s social services requirements, especially education and health.

“I think, through hard work, commitment and dedication to perform, my people at the BIR continue to prove that the agency can meet the government’s revenue expectations. However, we know this is not yet enough to meet the health and educational needs of the country. We must continue to increase the BIR’s performance through reforms,” Henares said.

The BIR recently crafted its “5-Year Strategic Plan” through 2016 under which specific reforms in tax collection strategies are indicated. These include strengthened auditing of large taxpayers and regular filing of tax-evasion cases against tax cheats.

For 2011, the BIR is tasked to collect P940 billion. Henares has expressed confidence that the full-year goal will be attained.

The BIR’s target is consistent with the national government’s goal of reducing its budget deficit to P300 billion this year from P314 billion in 2010.

The deficit ceiling set for this year is equivalent to 3.2 percent of the estimated gross domestic product of the country.

Under the Aquino administration’s fiscal goal, the deficit-to-GDP ratio should be reduced gradually until it hits 2 percent in 2016.