BIR 13 targets to outdo 2014 collection growth

CEBU, Philippines- The Bureau of Internal Revenue 13 in Cebu City targets to surpass this 2015 the 22% collection growth rate posted last year as it aims to maximize collection efforts.

With the rise of 25% in the 2015 tax goal of the revenue region, BIR 13 Director Hermeno Palamine claimed it’s challenging to achieve the target and exceed the 2014 growth rate.

“Ato nang paninguha-on pero pwerteng lisora,” Palamine told The FREEMAN in an interview.

This year, the local bureau is set to collect P25.9 billion from taxpayers, an increase of 25% compared to last year’s P20.9-billion goal.

The director, however, explained this does not follow that the collection goal of the five revenue district offices under BIR 13 has also gone up 25%.

“Mag-depende,” he said of the revenue targets of RDOs, “kay naay uban nga moabot og 30% [ang increase] while naay uban nga less than 30%; kanang 25% mao nay average.”

The BIR official said the collection growth rate of BIR 13 has always been increasing despite missing the overall target like what happened in 2013 when the region fell short of its revenue target but recorded a 15% rise in its collection.

He attributed this trend to the taxpayers, he said.

Preliminary data showed that in 2014, BIR 13 collected P21.1 billion in revenues, up 1.05% of its P20.9-billion target for the year.

He noted the 22% collection growth is higher than the 9.64% rise posted by the national BIR which collected P1.334 trillion last year from P1.217 trillion in 2013, as suggested by preliminary data.   

The BIR, which is the government’s main revenue earner, has identified 27 priority programs that could boost the agency’s collection efforts.

Activities and projects of all BIR offices should side with these priority programs to attain collection efficiency, the tax agency said.  (FREEMAN)