BIR collections in April miss target by 19%

The taxes collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) last April grew by 3 percent year-on-year to P160.8 billion, although at a slower rate of increase than the previous year’s as businesses’ revenues late last year took a hit from port congestion.

In a statement yesterday, the country’s biggest tax-collection agency reported that its take at the start of the second quarter rose from P156.1 billion in the same month last year, but it was 18.8-percent below the target of P198 billion. In April last year, BIR collections went up by a slightly higher 4.8 percent year-on-year.

“Since a large part of the income tax liabilities due on April 15 were the tax liabilities due from business resulting from their operations for the last quarter of 2014, sales of businesses and the resulting income therefrom are greatly affected by the port congestion experienced last year,” Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares explained.

The daytime truck ban implemented by the Manila city government from February to September last year stalled the movement of goods in and out of the country’s biggest and busiest sea ports.

Last April, collections from BIR operations increased by 4 percent to P159.1 billion, of which the large taxpayers service contributed P99.2 billion (up 1.3 percent year-on-year), while the regional offices’ share was P59.9 billion (up 8.6 percent).

“The collections of the large taxpayers service were greatly affected by decreases in income reported by a significant number of taxpayers under their jurisdiction. Taxpayers should expect a significant intensification of audit to determine the veracity of the reported decreases in their income,” Henares said.

Collections from non-BIR operations, meanwhile, dropped by 44.6 percent year-on-year to P1.7 billion.

From January to April, the BIR collected a total of P467.9 billion, up 11 percent from P420.8 billion during the first four months of last year. The end-April collections, however, were 12.7-percent lower than the P536-billion goal for the four-month period.

For 2015, the BIR’s collections target is P1.67 trillion.