BIR misses April collection target

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), missed its April collection target of P122.8 billion despite the month being the tax-filing season.

The agency, which accounts for 70 percent of total government agencies, collected P116.22 billion in tax revenues in April, higher by P12.83 billion or 12.41 percent over the collection made in April 2011, the BIR reported yesterday.

However, compared to the target for the month, BIR’s April collections fell short by P6.58 billion.

In its report, the BIR said that collections by its regional offices in April 2012 amounted to P39.18 billion, higher by P6.58 billion or 20.18 percent compared to collections made in the same month last year.

However, bulk of the month’s collection came from the BIR’s Large Taxpayer Service, which is in charge of the top individual and corporate taxpayers in the country.

Collections by the LTS group amounted to P74.25 billion, P5.36 billion or 7.77 percent more than the collection made in April 2011.

The April tax-take brought the January to April collections of the BIR to P345.26 billion, higher by 13.97 percent over the collection for the same period of 2011.

BIR Commissioner Kim Henares has said that the agency would continue to step up efforts to boost collections as it is determined to meet its revenue goal this year of P1.066 trillion.

For the first time, the BIR’s revenue goal has reached the P1-trillion mark.

The agency has been actively plugging revenue loopholes by reviewing regulations issued in the past. It has also been investigating different schemes employed by delinquent taxpayers.

Initiatives include the name and shame campaign through the regular filing of tax evasion cases before the Justice department, the intensified monitoring of issuance of receipts and the issuance of Letters of Authority to big taxpayers.

Last year, the BIR collected P924 billion, below its goal for that year of P940 billion.