BIR, BOC collection up in June, but below targets

Revenue collection by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs (BOC) improved in June but their six-month take was still lower year-on-year and below target due largely to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Initial Department of Finance (DOF) data released on Thursday (July 2) showed that the BIR collected P228.2 billion last month, up 42.5 percent from P160.2 billion in 2019 but 19.9-percent below its goal of P284.8 billion.

The BIR’s June collection rose year-on-year as it had moved to June 15 the last day to file and pay 2019 income tax returns (ITRs) in response to pandemic lockdowns that kept most people indoors and unable to meet the original April 15 deadline.

The BOC surpassed its P40.7-billion target collection of import duties and other taxes in June with an actual take of P42.6 billion, although lower than P51.3 billion in 2019.

In a separate statement, the BOC said 11 of the country’s 17 ports hit their targets last month. These are Aparri, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Clark, Davao, Legazpi, Limay, San Fernando (La Union), Subic, Tacloban, and Zamboanga.

The BOC attributed the collections in June to the“intensified collective effort of all ports and the gradually improving volume of importation” and government efforts “in ensuring unhampered movement of goods domestically and internationally considering the pandemic situation.”

But for the January to June period, the BIR and the BOC collected a combined P1.155 trillion, down 16 percent year-on-year and 2.8-percent below the P1.187-trillion goal for the six-month period.

The BIR’s end-June tax take amounted to P901.9 billion, down 15.9 percent from P1.072 trillion a year ago.

Actual BIR collections during the first six months also fell below the downscaled P933.5-billion program.

The BOC’s end-June collections reached P253.1 billion, slightly below the P254.2-billion target for the first half of 2020 and down from P303 billion in 2019.

The Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) last May reduced the BIR and the BOC’s collection targets for 2020 to P1.74 trillion and P541.7 billion.

As a whole, the DBCC had cut this year’s total tax and non-tax revenue-collection program to P2.61 trillion, down 16.7 percent from actual revenues of P3.14 trillion last year.

TSB