Department of Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto called on the government’s two main tax agencies to expedite their digitalization efforts to reach the P4.27 trillion target for this year.
During a meeting on Wednesday, July 11, Recto discussed with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) the projects that will be implemented to ease trade operations in several borders across the country.
He cited the implementation of live exchanges of electronic phytosanitary certificates with Indonesia and Thailand, as well as the establishment of an E-Commerce Portal to facilitate online transactions, among other initiatives for broader customs modernization.
For the BIR, digitalization projects such as the Online Registration Update System (ORUS), Optimized Knowledge Management for Chatbot Revie, and the enhancement of the Electronic One-Time Transaction (eONETT) System are expected to improve the agency’s tax administration.
In six months, the BIR collected P1.36 trillion, which was an 11.7 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
Likewise, the BOC’s collection also increased by 5.2 percent, reaching P455.80 billion in the first half of the year.
On the other hand, non-tax revenues improved by 65 percent during the first six-month period, generating P316.52 billion.
The government aimed to collect P2.077 trillion in revenue in the first half of the year. With P2.13 trillion collected by the end of June, this represents almost 50 percent of the annual target.
The DOF said that the increases in collections were attributed to the agencies’ stricter enforcement measures and digitalization efforts to facilitate the ease of paying taxes.
Over the medium term, the Marcos administration is expecting a 10.3 percent average annual growth in total revenues, growing by 4.27 trillion this year to 6.25 trillion by 2028.
Tax collections are also projected to increase by an average of 11.8 percent annually, which Recto said “is faster than the 8.8 percent projected growth of our nominal GDP [gross domestic product].”
“In fact, for 2025, we expect double-digit collection growth from the BIR and BOC as we enhance their administrative efficiency through digitalization and plug leakages in the tax system, especially from e-commerce,” he added.