Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. is confident that the government’s main tax agency will meet its ₱3.23 trillion collection goal this year after it exceeded its first quarter targets.
“Based on the progress of our programs that we have already laid out, and also based on the progress of the first months from January to March, our collection is running well,” Lumagui told reporters during the 2024 Annual Income Tax Returns (AITR) Filing Deadline, April 15.
“In fact, we are over-targeted and that is also what we expect this month of April and in the next months,” Lumagui said.
Lumagui reported that the BIR’s preliminary tax collections for the first three months reached ₱668.8 billion. The first quarter figure was 13 percent higher than the ₱591.8 billion collected in the same period last year.
Lumagui expects that the three-month number, now an inch closer to the ₱672-billion target for the period, will surpass it.
“For the goal of January to March, our attainment is around 102 percent,” he noted but said he could not provide for the exact figure as total collections are still being crunched with the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
Lumagui said the strong first-quarter tax collections were mainly due to improved compliance with value-added tax (VAT).
The crackdown on fake receipts, particularly involving large corporations, has driven the increase. He noted that businesses are now more cautious, especially as public attention grows around the issue.
According to Lumagui, VAT is often targeted for fraud because it's more dependent on receipts, unlike income tax where filers can opt for a 40-percent standard deduction. Despite this, Lumagui said income tax remains the bigger challenge for the agency.
Lumagui is expecting that the remaining nine percent of the total 1.4 million filers, including both individual and corporate taxpayers, will submit income tax returns (ITR) on the last date of filing.
As for hitting the P208 billion income tax target for the month, Lumagui was counting on the full compliance of the remaining nine percent of filers.
“Hopefully, I think we can get it based on the filing and reporting so far,” the Commissioner said, citing the agency’s intensified efforts to engage with taxpayers and aggressive tax campaign.
He also clarified that there will be no extension for the income tax filing deadline. He stressed that the agency had launched its campaign as early as February, with extended banking hours and Saturday operations to accommodate taxpayers.
Those who fail to file and settle obligations by the deadline will face a 12-percent interest and a 25-percent surcharge, as well as a compromise charge.
The compromise charge is an additional charge that may be imposed to settle tax violations without going through legal proceedings.