BIR passes March target

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said it exceeded its March collection target due to higher sales tax and strong performance by the Large Taxpayers Service (LTS).

BIR commissioner Jose Mario Buñag said the bureau was "on track" and even managed to surpass its revenue collection target of P43 billion in March although he declined to disclose what the emerging number was.

"We are on track and we even exceeded our collection target for March," Buñag told reporters.

Last year, the BIR collected a total of P35.98 billion worth of tax revenues but this year, the bureau would be seeing the initial impact of the adjustment in the value added tax rate from 10 percent to 12 percent which became effective on Feb. 1 this year.

Buñag said March was the second straight month that the agency has surpassed its collection goal after falling short of its target last January by P590 million.

In January, BIR collections went up by 17.8 percent to P49.5 billion compared to P42.02 billion in the same month last year. Despite the increase, however, the actual figure was still P590 million short of its collection target of P50.1 billion.

In February, the BIR managed to collect P41.7 billion or 31.7 percent higher than last year’s P31.7 billion, exceeding its monthly target of P38.7 billion by P3 billion.

During the first two months of the year, BIR collections grew 23.8 percent to P91.2 billion from P73.7 billion during the same period last year. The agency likewise surpassed its collection goal of P88.7 billion by P2.5 billion for the months of January and February.

Buñag said the BIR’s revenue collections during the first quarter of the year was attributable to the strong performance by the agency’s LTS which accounted for about 55 percent of total collections.

However, Buñag said the BIR has not assessed the full impact of Republic Act 9337 which came into effect in November last year and removed the VAT exemptions of such industries as oil and petroleum and professional services.

BIR collects about 67 percent of the total revenues raised by the National Government and this year, Buñag said total revenue collections are expected to reach P675.4 billion, 26.36 percent more than last year’s P534.5 billion.

In 2005, however, the BIR missed its collection target completely and its actual revenues by the end of the year was off by P12.4 billion as the bureau reeled from the resignation of former commissioner Guillermo Parayno Jr.