BIR misses collection target for June

MANILA, Philippines - Tax collections of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) rose 9.2 percent to P88.76 billion in June from a year ago level.

However, the June collection failed to meet the BIR’s target of P100.51 million for the month.

The BIR also missed its collection target in May after  performing above expectations in April.

Revenues from BIR operations reached P86.28 billion in May, up P7.37 billion or 9.34 percent from the same month last year.

Collections from non-BIR operations went up by 1.94 percent to P2.48 billion.

Non-BIR operations refer to taxes collected by the the state from government securities issued by the Bureau of Treasury.

BIR’s Regional Offices collected P31.53 billion during the month, an increase of P3.5 billion or 12.48 percent.

Collections from the large taxpayers, on the other hand, amounted to P54.75 billion,  7.61 percent more than last year’s figure.

For the first half of the year, the BIR collected P593.71 billion, up 13.92 percent from a year ago.  Collections from BIR operations  increased 15.29 percent to P574.84 billion.

Collections from non-BIR operations, on the other hand hand, fell 16.4 percent to P18.87 billion.

Excise tax collections on sin products likewise saw an expansion during the six-month period, rising 46.06 percent to P38.54 billion. The bulk of the amount or P22.38 billion came from tobacco products while the balance of P16.16 billion came from alcohol.

The excise tax collected from tobacco firms represents an increase of 53.14 percent.

The taxes collected from alcohol products showed an improvement of 37.27 percent.

For the whole of 2013, the BIR is eyeing to collect P1.25 trillion in taxes or 17.59 percent higher than the previous year.  The assumption is based on a gross domestic product growth forecast of six percent for the year.

The large taxpayers group will account for the lion’s share of collections, remitting around P768.31 billion to the government coffer or 14 percent more than what it contributed last year.

The rest is spread out among revenue regions and districts across the country as well as from non-BIR operations.

The 2013 collection goal also 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 last year.

The BIR likewise took into consideration the country’s projected economic growth for the year as well as the volume of issuance of government securities and their corresponding taxes as provided by the Bureau of Treasury.