BIR slashes 2015 revenue target anew

CEBU, Philippines – The Bureau of Internal Revenue has cut anew its overall 2015 revenue target and the tax goals of its collecting units due to the expected revenue losses brought by the newly signed law raising the tax exemption for bonuses.

The BIR recently issued Revenue Memorandum Order 5-2015 to amend RMO 4-2015 (dated February 5, 2015) on the 2015 collection goals of its implementing offices.

The revenue agency said that Republic Act 10653 or the law adjusting the exemption ceiling of 13th month pay and other benefits from P30,000 to P82,000 would result to tax losses reaching up to P30 billion.

Latest data from BIR showed the bureau now targets P1.674 trillion in revenues in 2015, down from P1.704 previously set.

The tax agency has kept the targets for the different types of taxes unchanged except for taxes on net income and profits.

The goal for the said taxes is now P993.577 billion from the previous P1.02 trillion.

Last year the BIR, the majority source of state revenues, fell short of its P1.456-trillion goal by 8% but it surpassed its year-on-year collection by 10%. It collected P1.33 trillion last year, up from P1.217 trillion in 2013.

Collecting units

The 2015 goal of the Large Taxpayers Service has also been reduced to P1.05 trillion from the previous P1.07-trillion target.

Locally, the Large Taxpayers Division in Cebu now targets P37.9 billion in tax collections, down from P38.8 billion.

BIR region 13 Cebu City's tax goal slightly went down to P25.4 billion from P25.9 billion.

In 2014, BIR 13 exceeded its goal by 1.05%, hitting its P20.9-billion target. It collected P21.1 billion in revenues last year, preliminary data showed.

While overall goal for all revenue regions nationwide is set at P594.55 billion, down from P606.02 billion before.