BIR breaches Covid-adjusted excise goal

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P128.59 billion in excise taxes from large taxpayers for the first half of the year, surpassing its adjusted target for the period of P113.64 billion despite the severe economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, preliminary data submitted to the Department of Finance also showed that the first-semester excise tax collection of BIR in 2020 was 24.23 percent short of the P169.718 billion it collected in the same period last year.

The government had earlier adjusted its revenue collection targets for 2020 to take into account the impact of the pandemic on economic activity.

Broken down, the bulk of excise tax collections from large taxpayers was sourced from tobacco products as the BIR collected P61.47 billion as of end-june, exceeding the BIR’S goal of P43.6 billion for the period.

This was followed by excise tax collections on alcohol products from large taxpayers reaching P27.46 billion, or 31.07 percent over the P20.95-billion target for the six-month period.

Excise tax collection from large taxpayers on petroleum products amounted to P19.99 billion for the first half of the year, falling below the P28.59-billion target for the period due to movement restrictions imposed starting March, causing a decline in demand for oil products.

Meanwhile, the excise tax take on sweetened beverages also slightly breached the BIR’S P16.83-billion target as large taxpayers paid a total of P16.41 billion.

For other products, excise tax collections from large taxpayers covering the Januaryjune period amounted to P2.12 billion for minerals, 8.2 percent more than last year’s P1.96 billion; P985 million for automobiles; P129 million for nonessentials; and P1 million for cosmetic procedures.

For June alone, tobacco products remain the top source of excise tax payments of large taxpayers, at P18.1 billion. This is more than double its P6.56-billion target and up by 36.1 percent from the P13.3 billion it collected in the same month in 2019.

The June excise tax collection from large taxpayers on alcohol products reached P7.35 billion, also more than double the BIR target of P3.15 billion. This also reflected a growth of 7.5 percent from P6.83 billion collected in June 2019.

NONIE REYES LOCALLY stranded individuals mostly from Mindanao pitch makeshift tents outside the Quirino Grandstand at the Rizal Park in Manila, where they have been staying while waiting for government-sponsored trips to bring them home to their provinces. Reports said that the operation has been temporarily suspended, as local governments seek assurances that strict health safeguards were followed so as not to swell their number of Covid-19 cases, and will resume on July 24, 2020.