BIR beats first 100 days collection target
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the government’s main tax agency, minimally surpassed its collection target in the first 100-days of the Marcos administration.
In a statement, BIR Commissioner Lilia Catris Guillermo said the bureau generated P426.33 billion from July to August, above by 1.25 percent against its P421.7 billion goal for the period.
Guillermo said the better than expected collection was driven by revenues from recent tax reform measures, broadened tax base and better tax administration.
The BIR, which contributes about two-thirds to government coffers, was able to collect a total of P14.8 billion from major tax reforms in July alone, the commissioner said.
Broken down, the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law yielded P1.9 billion, while the Sin Tax Law and Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act delivered P5.9 billion and P7 billion, respectively.
Moreover, the bureau raised P221.9 billion from the Estate Tax Amnesty Program from 7,770 filers between July and August.
“Those accomplishments would not have been possible without the concerted efforts and support of all revenue officials and personnel, and the guidance of our Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno,” Guillermo said on Tuesday, Oc. 25.
“With his continued support and the cooperation of all taxpayers, we hope to sustain the Bureau’s good performance so we can deliver the much-needed revenues to fund our country’s various development projects,” she added.
The implementation of other priority programs also contributed to the agency’s excess in collections, such as the enhanced internal revenue stamps integrated system on tobacco products which generated P40.17 billion.
The bureau also gained P2.7 billion from the collection and assessment of open/pending audit cases, P2.6 billion from audit effort, and P1.11 billion from monitoring of tax compliance of Philippine offshore gaming operators.
Better monitoring of registered business enterprises under the IT-BMP sector’s work from home arrangement also provided P892.2 million revenues to the BIR, while the collection of delinquent accounts gave P611,000.
Under the Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) Program, three cases were also filed against erring taxpayers in July and August 2022 with estimated tax liabilities amounting to P83.37 Million.
For the broadening of the tax base, the BIR was able to increase the number of registered taxpayers by 510,869 or 11 percent. This brings to over 5.1 million the total number of registered business taxpayers as of August 2022.
The BIR also began the implementation of its digital transformation program in the first 100-days of President Marcos.