BIR exceeds Q1 target by 5%

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P244.1 billion in the first quarter this year, exceeding by five percent its P232.67 billion target.

The Department of Finance (DOF) said BIR collections for January to March this year were 6.56 percent higher than the P229.04 billion posted in the same period in 2012.

Of the total, P233.41 billion came from BIR operations, which is 9.08 percent more than the previous year’s P214 billion.

Regional offices shored up its collection by 20.01 percent, while the large taxpayer service reported a 3.16 percent rise in collections.

Collections from non-BIR operations, on the other hand, declined by 29.28 percent or P4.41 billion.

The BIR is looking at higher collections in the next three quarters — P358.3 billion in April to June, P306.87 billion (July-September) and P321.43 billion (October-December).

The agency aims to collect a record P1.25 trillion for the whole of 2013, 18 percent higher than the P1.057 billion collected a year ago.

BIR commissioner Kim Henares earlier said the agency was confident it would meet its April collection target of P147 billion as it sees more individuals and corporations pay taxes

April is generally the biggest month for the BIR as the deadline of filing previous year’s income taxes falls on this month.

The large taxpayers group would account for the lion’s share of collections and the rest is spread out among revenue regions and districts across the country as well as from non-BIR operations.

Of the total P1.25 trillion, P768.31 billion will come from large taxpayers or an increase of 14 percent from the previous year.

The total collections target took into account the P34 billion in incremental revenues from tobacco and alcohol products for this year alone following the passage of the sin tax bill in December 2012.

The sin tax bill increased the excise tax rates on tobacco products and alcoholic beverages.