Excise tax collection exceeds revised 6-month target

Excise taxes collected from big corporations during the first half overshot the downscaled target by 13.2 percent even as the amount fell short of collections last year due to the COVID-19-induced recession.

Citing preliminary Bureau of Internal Revenue data, the Department of Finance (DOF) said the BIR’s take from excise taxes remitted by large taxpayers from January to June amounted to P128.6 billion, bigger than the P113.6-billion goal.

The DOF noted that revenue collection targets for 2020 were adjusted to take into account the impact of the outbreak on economic activity.

The actual end-June excise tax collections were 24.2-percent lower than the P169.7 billion generated during the first six months of last year, the DOF said.

Six-month excise taxes on tobacco reached P61.5 billion, higher than the P43.6-billion target.

From alcohol, the excise tax collection during the January-to-June period totaled P27.5 billion, above the P20.9-billion program. INQ