Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) | INQUIRER.net file photo
MANILA -An “intensification” of tax enforcement activities and the automation of key services helped the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) rake in higher-than-expected revenues in October, bringing it closer to its collection goal for the entire year.
Excluding tax refunds, revenues collected in October amounted to P274.43 billion in October, surging by 46.94 percent year-on-year, the BIR reported on Tuesday.
The figure exceeded the bureau’s target for October by 8.57 percent, data showed.
At the same time, it also brought the BIR’s 10-month haul to P2.13 trillion, up 11.11 percent compared with a year ago.
Already, the cumulative collection accounted for 80.8 percent of the bureau’s target to raise P2.639 trillion this year, which is 12.99 percent higher than the actual revenues collected last year.
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Enforcement activities
Revenue Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. attributed his agency’s performance to heightened tax enforcement activities, specifically on the campaign against sellers and buyers of fake receipts.
The BIR chief also gave credit to the bureau’s “continuous streamlining and digitization” of core services. The Asian Development Bank recently approved a $400-million loan to help the Philippine government modernize tax administration, systems and processes.
“We hope to encourage all noncompliant taxpayers to comply fully with the provisions and requirements of the tax laws so we can attain, and even surpass, our annual collection target this year,” Lumagui said.
BIR collections typically account for 80 percent of state revenues.
READ: BIR plans online sellers tax in time for Christmas
Last month, the BIR said it is hoping to start collecting a 1 percent withholding tax from operators of online marketplaces before December this year, as it seeks to cash-in on the exponential growth in e-commerce transactions during the pandemic and the typical surge in consumer spending during the Christmas shopping season.
BIR assistant commissioner Jethro Sabariaga had said the tax agency is now studying the comments from stakeholders on the final draft of a new revenue regulation covering online sellers.