BIR 2015 tax take seen to fall short of target

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is seen missing its 2015 tax collection goal of P1.674 trillion and its chief, Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares, conceded this year’s target would also be difficult to hit.

This year, the BIR is looking at affixing tax stamps on distilled spirits as a way to jack up revenue.

Henares told reporters last Wednesday that the BIR’s 2016 tax take target of P2.026 trillion, as earlier set by the Cabinet-level interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee, was “unrealistic.”

She declined to disclose the actual collections figure for 2015, only saying that they unlikely hit the target even as the amount collected likely grew above nominal gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

Nominal GDP was expected to rise by low double-digits last year. “(The BIR’s collection) should always grow above nominal GDP growth,” Henares said.

The BIR’s tax take during the first 11 months of 2015 grew by 9 percent year-on-year to P1.327 trillion. It was, however, short of the target for the month of P1.542 billion, the latest data showed.

To attain its record collection goal for 2016—the first time it was set at P2 trillion level—the BIR identified 26 priority programs aimed at “further [propelling] the upward momentum of collection efficiency  that the bureau has been able to sustain over the past years,” according to Henares.

Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 14-2016 issued by Henares on Feb. 15 listed among this year’s priority programs the implementation of the Internal Revenue Stamps Integrated System (Irsis) for distilled spirits and wines.

Irsis, aimed at ensuring the collection of correct excise taxes, currently covers tobacco products and will be expanded to include alcohol products.

Henares said the BIR was still fine-tuning the process of affixing tax stamps on distilled spirits and wines so that production at factories would not be stalled by the stamping process.