BIR tops 1130.12-B September collection target

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the government’s main tax agency, exceeded its target in September amid intensified campaign for better tax compliance.

Preliminary data from the Department of Finance (DOF) showed the BIR surpassed its R130.12 billion target last month by 6.2 percent to R138.17 billion.

Year-on-year, BIR collections jumped 21.45 percent in September from R113.77 billion.

Of the total collections, the BIR’s large taxpayers group cornered the biggest share, equivalent to 64.9 percent, or R89.69 billion. The sector’s actual revenue take is also higher by 14.5 percent against target of R78.28 billion.

Collections from the large taxpayers group last month also increased by 27.9 percent compared with R70.1 billion in the same month in 2016.

Non-large taxpayers, on the other hand, contributed 33.57 percent, or R46.38 billion, to the BIR’s revenue collections, which is slightly lower compared with the R46.39 billion goal.

But non-large taxpayers collections still increased year-on-year by 17 percent from R39.61 billion.

The bureau’s non-tax revenues, meanwhile, fell short of the R5.45-billion target in September by 61.47 percent to R2.1 billion. The latest figure is also lower than last year’s R4.04 billion.

In the first nine months of the year, the BIR’s total revenue take amounted to R1.302 trillion, up by 10.8 percent compared with R1.174 trillion in the same period last year.

However, the BIR’s end-September revenue take is short by 3.6 percent against the R1.35trillion goal for the period.

In May, the inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) estimated that the BIR will likely miss its R1.829trillion collection target this year by 2.6 percent to R1.782 trillion.

The lower-than-expected revenues and delays in the Duterte administration’s proposed tax reform package one prompted the DBCC to slightly adjust downwards the government’s fiscal program this year