BIR, Customs fail to meet collection targets

The country’s main revenue collecting agencies, Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs, both failed to reach their collection targets based on their latest respective reporting periods, although government remains confident it would keep its budget deficit target for the entire year.

The BOC missed its monthly target for the first time this year as imports started to decline in August due to the depreciation of the peso that made importation more expensive than previous months.

Preliminary reports revealed that collections were short by P394 million in August, reaching P8.326 billion against the target of P8.72 billion. This also represented a 4.5 percent decline compared to last year’s August collection.

Customs commissioner Antonio Bernardo said the eight-month collection was still 7.9 percent over the target but the decline in import volumes had affected the monthly collection in August.

Bernardo said this was the first time that the BOC missed its monthly target although he expressed optimism that the September receipts would be a significant improvement.

"There was a decrease in import volumes in August," Bernardo said. "I guess a lot of importers held back on their shipments because of the increase in exchange rates."

Bernardo said it was too early to tell how September imports would behave but he said that historically, imports start to pick up in the last four months of the year as the holiday season draws closer.

On the other hand, the BIR has outperformed itself for the fifth consecutive month this year, keeping it on track of its full-year revenue target of P424 billion.

The preliminary figure on revenue collections from Jan - July reached P242.97 billion or 10.97 percent better than the P218.95 billion in the same period last year. However, this is still P1 billion short of its target during the period.

For the month of July alone, collections reached P33.76 billion or 3.9 percent better than the P32.48 billion realized in the same month last year. However, it is still a few million pesos short of reaching its P34-billion target.

"We have exceeded it," said BIR deputy commissioner Lita Aguirre, referring to the seven-month collection performance.

For the BIR to achieve its full-year target of P424 billion, it must continue to grow by at least eight percent monthly. Initial estimates indicate that the bureau is performing at over nine percent.

Aguirre pointed out that the increased collection figure was achieved both by the improved performance of its personnel and the application of technological advancement. It has been improving its information and communications technology (ICT) including short message system (SMS or text), the Internet, and state-of-the-art software.

The latest applications of technology is the Bayan I-txt ang Resibo which has so far resulted in an additional collection of P120 million, coming from a total of P12.24 billion total cost from transactions with commercial establishments that did not issue official receipts. – Des Ferriols, Ted Torres, Rey Arquiza