BIR breaches collection goal for 2020

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) exceeded its downscaled full-year collection target as early as November and is bracing for a bigger goal next year amid expectations of an economic rebound from the pandemic-induced recession.

Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar Dulay and Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa said collections for the month of November alone amounted to P182 billion, exceeding the P145.4-billion program for the month.

This brought total collections for the 11 months to November to P1.78 trillion, breaching not only the 11-month target of P1.57 trillion but also the 2020 program of P1.69 trillion.

However, the BIR’s cumulative collections from January to November slid below the P2.01 trillion in taxes collected during the comparative 11 months of last year as the economy fell into a recession that is shaping up to be the country’s worst postwar this year.

The Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) expects the BIR, the country’s biggest tax-collection agency, to contribute up to P1.95 trillion to the government’s revenues by year’s end.

But the DBCC several times slashed the BIR’s 2020 target from P2.58 trillion originally set before the pandemic as both individual and corporate taxpayers struggled amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Guballa said the BIR was tasked to collect P2 trillion in taxes in 2021 when the economy was expected to grow by 6.5-7.5 percent.

According to Guballa, all types of taxes saw improvements in collection last month.

“Enforcement and monitoring is the key factor,” Guballa said.

This week, the Department of Finance said additional revenues collected from unregistered firms that were shuttered even amid the COVID-19 pandemic rose further to P582.5 million as of end-November.

In a recent report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Guballa said that from January to November, 196 commercial establishments were temporarily closed down under the BIR’s “Oplan Kandado” program.

From October to November alone, the BIR collected an additional P34.5 million through Oplan Kandado, Guballa told Dominguez.

The BIR shut down 18 unregistered businesses during the past two months, Guballa said.

On top of the additional taxes being collected via Oplan Kandado, Guballa said 103 tax-evasion cases earlier filed at the Department of Justice were already currently undergoing preliminary investigation.

The BIR hales registered firms with unpaid tax liabilities to court through its Run After Tax Evaders program.