BIR ’12 collection goal set at P1.06T

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is tasked to raise a total of P1.066 trillion this year, about a tenth of which will be collected from large taxpayers, the Malampaya natural gas project, and the central bank.

The BIR’s 2012 target collection is 13.4 percent higher than the P940-billion goal last year.

Also, the new target represents 58.7 percent of the P1.816-trillion national budget for this year.

Revenue Commissioner Kim S. Henares has issued Revenue Memorandum Order No. 1-2012, which spelled out the policies and guidelines as well as goal allocation for the different offices of the tax bureau.

In particular, the Large Taxpayers field operations division is tasked to collect P71.08 billion in excise taxes from taxpayers with at least P1 million in taxable income.

Also, the BIR expects to collect P9.185 billion in income taxes from participants in the Malampaya natural gas project.

The bureau estimates that it can raise P18.98 billion from the final withholding taxes levied on the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Based on the distribution of the total target to the BIR’s various units, the respective goals of regional district offices increased by 15 percent to 20 percent compared with their 2011 levels.

“The Large Taxpayer Service gets a share of 65 percent (of the total target) and the revenue regions, 35 percent,” Henares said.

Other sources of this year’s BIR collection were taxes on net income and profits (P647.3 billion), value-added tax (P226.2 billion), percentage taxes (P60.2 billion) and “other” taxes (P61.2 billion).

Henares said the total goal was based on the Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing (BESF) for 2012.

In turn, the BESF was based on the assumption that the Philippine economy would grow this year to P11.011 trillion, or 5.5 percent higher than year-ago level based on constant prices.

Also, the government is gunning for a tax effort—the value of tax collection expressed as a fraction of total domestic output—of 9.7 percent.

Last month, Henares expressed confidence that the BIR’s collection target for 2011 of P940 billion would be met.

As of end-November, the BIR has already collected a total of P854.5 billion, missing the 11-month target of P860.3 billion by 0.7 percent.