BIR collections overshoot target in Q1

MANILA, Philippines — Collections of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) reached P422.59 billion in the first quarter, exceeding its P361.77 collection goal by nearly 17 percent.

On a year-on-year basis, this was also 14.03 percent higher than the previous year’s collection of P370.61 billion.

The BIR said the bulk or P270.36 billion of the total collections was contributed by the Large Taxpayers Service (LTS). The amount was 22 percent higher than the P221.68 billion goal of the LTS for the period.

BIR regional offices, for their part, accounted for P141.66 billion of the total revenue during the three-month period, surpassing their P125.91 billion target by 12.5 percent.

For the month of March alone, BIR collections grew 11.06 percent to P130.33 billion from P117.35 billion in the same month last year.

The amount was also 8.94 percent higher than the agency’s target of P119.63 billion for March.

Earlier, economic managers attributed the increase in government revenues to the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act.

The TRAIN Law or Republic Act 10963 aims to simplify the country’s tax system by lowering personal income tax rates.

It also seeks to adjust excise taxes of fuel, automobile, coal and sugar-sweetened beverages, and expand the tax base by removing value-added tax exemptions.

Meanwhile, Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar Dulay has called on taxpayers to file their income tax returns and to pay their taxes before the deadline on April 16.

The BIR traditionally contributes about 80 percent of the government’s total revenue. For 2018, the BIR is targeting to collect P2.039 trillion, 14.5 percent higher than the actual collection of P1.78 trillion last year.