While the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) expressed optimism about repeating its historic beyond-target collection in 2025, achieving the double-digit growth target this year will be challenging for the Bureau of Customs (BOC), President Marcos’ chief economic manager said.
Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Ralph G. Recto told reporters over a press chat, that he is expecting the BIR to meet its 2025 collection target of P3.2 trillion set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC). This figure increased by around P12.28 percent from the previous year’s P2.85 trillion.
The DBCC is an inter-agency body that sets the government’s macroeconomic assumptions.
On the other hand, Recto expects the BOC to face difficulty reaching the P1.06 trillion target for this year. Relative to the BIR’s growth target, this figure also hiked by 12.81 percent from last year’s P939.6 billion.
“The challenge will be a little more for BOC because we increased their target for next year. So we want them to grow double-digit also for next year. So I think that's where the challenge is,” Recto said.
He assured, however, that in the event of Customs’ shortfall, the national government is “preparing what we can do to ensure that we still collect the revenue so that we don’t increase the deficit by way of non-tax revenue and other privatization proceeds.”
“So this year for sure we will still adopt the policy of a dividend rate of 75 percent,” he stressed. In November 2024, the DOF raised the mandatory dividend remittances of GOCCs to the national government to 75 percent of their annual net earnings from 50 percent.
Meanwhile, BIR Commissioner Romeo D. Lumagui Jr. confirmed that the agency will exceed its 2024 collection goal (P2.848 trillion) by billions.
According to the BIR’s statement released on Jan. 20, the agency’s crackdowns on ghost receipts and illicit trade boosted its 2024 surplus collections by billions.
“The billions in surplus BIR collections for 2024 means that the national government can borrow less money to maintain the 2025 Budget. This is a win for the Filipino people, and for future generations of Filipinos who will inherit less national debt than the current generation,” Lumagui said.
As of Jan. 16, preliminary data from the DOF showed that the government’s total revenues reached P4.41 trillion.
Of that amount, P3.78 trillion accounted for tax revenues (P2.83 trillion from the BIR, P916.6 billion from the BOC, and P32.39 million from other government offices). Meanwhile, non-tax revenues have so far infused P625.96 billion into the national treasury.