BIR tax collection down 22% in May

MANILA, Philippines – Just as with Customs, the government’s tax collection failed to hits its targets for May 2016 with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) reporting a shortfall of 22.42% for the month.

Taxes collected for May totaled P152.14 billion against the P196.1 billion goal for the month, the BIR reported on Thursday, June 23. Despite the shortfall, May’s collection actually rose by 18.44% or P23.68 billion from the same time last year.

Collections from BIR operations came to P148.95 billion or 22.3% lower than the target of P191.7 billion, although it increased by P23.76 billion from last year.

Non-BIR operations collections, which include tax on interest and documentary stamp tax on government securities, amounted to P3.18 billion, 27.84 % below the P4.41 billion goal and 2.32 % less than the collections made in May 2015.   

Collections by the Large Taxpayers Service amounted to P100.01 billion, 23.13 % more than the same time last year while collections by the regional offices amounted to P48.95 billion or 11.3% more than the collections in May 2015.

For the first 5 months of the year, the BIR collected P659.96 billion which is 20.86% below the target of P833.94 billion. It is however 10.67% more than the collections made in January to May 2015.  

Government revenue dipped last month, with Customs collections also well below target by almost P2 billion.

The incoming Duterte administration presented last week a raft of tax reforms that it intends to implement, which includes lowering income and corporate tax rates. It hopes to offset these lower rates by attempting to broaden the tax base. – Rappler.com