By Jun Ramirez
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is extending anew the deadlines for the filing of various tax returns as the period of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) has been moved from April 30 to May 15 to battle the spread of Coronavirus-2019.
Bureau of Internal Revenue
(MANILA BULLETIN)
Revenue Deputy Commissioner for Operations Arnel Guballa said they are still waiting for instructions from the Department of Finance for extension of the deadlines.
"We have been stretching the deadlines corresponding to the re-extension of ECQ," Guballa said.
The latest Revenue Revenue Regulations No.10-2020 resets the deadline for the filing and payment of 2019 income tax return (ITR) to May 30.
Likewise, filing of monthly and quarterly value-added tax returns have been moved to May 22 and May 25 depending on the category of the taxpayers.
The filing of VAT refund claims and other tax concerns are also included in the said regulations signed by BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay two weeks ago, the full text of which was published in the Manila Bulletin.
The lockdown has been causing the BIR severe tax collection shortages. The government takes 78 percent of its tax income from the BIR.
For the first two weeks of April, the bureau reported dismal take of P25 billion, roughly only six percent of the P288-billion goal for the whole month.
Insiders said the amount was "very discouraging" since the two-week period used to be the barometer in gauging the annual collection performance due to the old April 15 deadline in the filing of income tax return.
Records showed the agency raised a total of P488.6 billion from January to mid April which was short by more than P398 billion of the target of P879 billion.
It was also lower by P226 billion compared to the actual take for the same period last year.