BIR take up 11% in 9 months

The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s collections jumped 11 percent to P1.3 trillion as of end-September, but the country’s biggest tax-collection agency still missed its nine-month goal.

The latest data from the Department of Finance showed that the BIR’s collections from January to September rose from P1.18 trillion a year ago.

The total amount collected during the first nine months, however, fell below the P1.35-trillion target for the period.

As of September, collections from large taxpayers reached P810.1 billion while those from small taxpayers amounted to P464.6 billion.

Collections from non-BIR operations, meanwhile, totaled P27.7 billion.

In July, P3.4 billion was remitted to the BIR by the Philippine unit of Japan Tobacco International as part of the tax settlement that allowed the global tobacco giant to acquire almost P47 billion in assets of homegrown cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corp.

An additional P12.1 billion was received by the BIR from JTI in September after the firm sealed the deal and absorbed Mighty, which had been slapped three tax evasion cases worth nearly P38 billion for allegedly using fake tax stamps on its products.

In all, JTI will pay the government a total of P30 billion—P25 billion for the settlement on top of P5 billion in value-added tax—until April next year, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III had said.

This month, the government expects P5.8 billion from JTI; P8.5 billion in November, and P500 million in April next year.

Dominguez told reporters last week that the government was anticipating up to P24 billion in additional revenues yearly from taxes slapped on sales of Mighty products under the new ownership as “sin” tax collections from the brand moving forward had been estimated at P40 million a week or nearly P2 billion a month.

Following the settlement of the tax evasion cases, the Department of Justice last Friday dismissed the tax evasion cases against Mighty owner Alexander Wongchuking, president Edilberto Adan, executive vice president Oscar Barrientos and treasurer Ernesto Victa.

In September alone, the BIR’s collections climbed 21 percent to P138.2 billion from P113.8 billion in the same month last year.

The BIR also exceeded its September target of P130.1 billion.

Collections from BIR operations last month reached P136.1 billion, of which the bulk or P89.7 billion were from large taxpayers while non-BIR operations contributed P2.1 billion.

This year, the BIR is tasked to collect P1.78 trillion in taxes equivalent to 11 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) after economic managers in June slashed the initial target of P1.83 trillion.