BIR, BOC collections down 50%

MANILA, Philippines — Revenues generated by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) declined by 50 percent in May compared to last year’s level due mainly to the extension of the deadline for the filing and payment of income taxes, the Department of Finance (DOF) said yesterday.

In a press briefing, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said the performance of the government’s two largest revenue generating agencies was “quite bad” in May as their collections were halved compared to last year.

“The preliminary collections for the month of May for the BIR and BOC are around 50 percent lower than last year’s, and that again is because of the shutdown,” Dominguez said.

The finance chief, however, did not give the actual collection figures, saying the numbers would be announced once these have been firmed up.

In May 2019, the combined collections of the BIR and the BOC amounted to P263 billion, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.

The BIR, alone, collected P204.8 billion, while the BOC generated P58.2 billion in revenues.

From January to May 2019, both agencies reported P1.16 trillion in collections, with P908.5 billion coming from the BIR and the remaining P251.7 billion from the BOC.

According to the finance chief, the decline in collections in May could be attributed to the extension of the deadline for the 2019 income taxes due to the implementation of the community lockdowns to limit the spread of coronavirus disease 2919 or COVID-19 outbreak.

“However, we expect to catch up by the end of the deadline which is the end of this month. So we expect to collect the taxes that were due from income last year,” he said.

The BIR extended the deadline for the annual filing of income tax returns for the year ending Dec. 31, 2019 to provide relief to Filipinos amid the pandemic.

Initially, the due date for filing of ITRs and the payment of corresponding taxes was extended from April 15 to May 15. This was further extended to May 30, following the extension of the enhanced community quarantine to April 30.

The deadline was further postponed for the third time to June 15 after the Luzon-wide quarantine was extended by another two weeks to May 15.