BIR tax take rises 13% to P1.779 trillion in 2017 but misses goal

Main office of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (File photo AFP)

The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) tax take jumped 13 percent to P1.779 trillion last year but missed its target.

In a statement Thursday, the country’s biggest tax-collection agency said its total 2017 collections exceeded the P1.576 trillion it collected in 2016.

However, the BIR fell short of its P1.829-trillion goal for last year.

Besides shoring up collections, the BIR said it also beefed up its tax administration efforts in 2017.

“Complementing the collection performance were the different enforcement activities undertaken by the tax agency last year. The BIR filed 112 cases under its flagship program Run After Tax Evaders (Rate) with an estimated combined tax liability amounting to P40.948 billion,” it said.

“Under its ‘Oplan Kandado’ program, 125 business establishments were closed with a collection of P252.14 million for various violations of the Tax Code including gross understatement of gross sales/receipts, non-compliance with the Value-Added Tax Law, and non-issuance of the requisite VAT,” the BIR added.

Also, “a total 164,062 business establishments were visited pursuant to the Tax Compliance Verification Drive to determine their compliance with the BIR’s bookkeeping, invoicing, and registration requirements,” with about P224.8 million generated from unscrupulous firms.

“The bureau likewise streamlined its different frontline services by reducing processing time and the number of documentary requirements to help taxpayers comply with their tax obligations in keeping with President Duterte’s mandate to make transactions with government offices easier and faster and with the BIR’s ease-of-doing business advocacy,” according to the BIR.

This year, the BIR is tasked to collect P2.039 trillion in taxes. /jpv