BIR revenues up, but still off target
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected more taxes last June, but was still unable to meet its targets for the month.
Data released by the BIR yesterday showed that its tax take in June grew 16.39 percent year-on-year to P109.55 billion. Collections that month, however, were below the goal of P117.94 billion.
Last June, collections from BIR operations rose 16.87 percent from a year ago to P107.09 billion, while those from non-BIR operations went down by 1.14 percent to P2.46 billion.
The Large Taxpayers Service’s (LTS) take in June increased by 16.52 percent to P68.04 billion, while that of regional offices went up at a faster rate of 17.49 percent to P39.05 billion.
The BIR’s first-half tax take amounted P705.87 billion, up 9.74 percent year-on-year. The end-June figure was lower than the P812.09-billion target for the first six months.
During the first half, BIR operations contributed P687.29 billion, up 10.02 percent; the amount from non-BIR operations inched up by 0.45 percent to P18.58 billion.
The LTS grew its end-June collections by 9.46 percent to P430.03 billion. Regional offices’ take jumped 10.96 percent to P257.26 billion.
For 2015, the BIR should collect P1.67 trillion in taxes, 25.4-percent more than the P1.34-trillion actual collection in 2014. The BIR’s collection target for 2015 is equivalent to 12 percent of gross domestic product or GDP.
The BIR had slashed its tax-take goal for this year—originally at P1.72 trillion—twice due to recently approved revenue-eroding measures.
In January, the BIR cut this year’s target to P1.7 trillion, citing the P16.9 billion in foregone revenues from the expanded exemption on workers’ benefits. Last February, the BIR again lowered its goal as the law that lifted to P82,000 the tax-exemption cap on 13th-month pay and other bonuses was expected to result into P30 billion in foregone revenues.
The BIR’s collections for next year have been programmed to grow by 21 percent to P2.026 trillion, breaching the P2-trillion mark for the first time.
