Top 100 corporations: Only 39 are on BIR taxpayers list

MANILA, Philippines – Less than half of the 100 biggest corporations in the country made it to the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) prestigious taxpayers list.

According to BIR’s latest Tax Watch ad released on Wednesday, March 19, only 39 out of the top 100 corporations identified by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) were among the top 500 corporate taxpayers in 2012.

SEC’s list was based on gross revenues. BIR’s list was based on income taxes paid. The ad compared the rankings of the corporations on both lists.

The ad is part of BIR’s campaign to encourage individuals and businesses to pay the right taxes. The bureau is hard-pressed to improve tax collections, which the government uses to fund its spending program. The government wants to boost spending to sustain the economy’s growth.

Before this, the BIR released a series of ads targeting doctors who do not pay taxes.

Meralco no. 1

Power distributor Manila Electric Company ranked first on both the SEC and BIR lists, with P9.346 billion income tax paid in 2012.

Oil company Petron Corporation ranked 2nd on the SEC list, while it placed 99th on BIR’s. Its income tax due in 2012 was P299.303 million.

The 3rd spot on SEC’s list went to Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation. The oil company, however, ranked 59th on BIR’s list, with income tax of P543.447 million.

TI (Philippines) Inc. and Malayan Integrated Industries Corporation – 4th and 5th, respectively, on SEC’s list – were not on BIR’s taxpayers list.

Other companies in top 10

Nestle Philippines Inc. grabbed the 6th spot on SEC’s list, and placed 7th on BIR’s, with P5.3 billion income tax.

Toshiba Information Equipment (Philippines) Inc. was no. 7 on the SEC list, but was not on BIR’s.

Mercury Drug Corporation came in next. It placed 43rd on BIR’s list, with income tax of P727.164 million.

Smart Communications Inc. and San Miguel Foods Inc. ranked 9th and 10th on SEC’s list, respectively.

With an income tax of P7.938 billion, Smart was 2nd on BIR’s top taxpayers list. San Miguel Foods was 78th, with an income tax of P379.042 million. – Rappler.com