BIR misses 2016 collection target

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) missed its 2016 revenue target, collecting P1.575 trillion against a goal of P1.62 trillion.

Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar Dulay attributed the shortfall to lack of manpower, which he said is affecting their collection efforts.

“In 2016, we had a collection of about P1.575 trillion. And this is about 95 percent of the goal –attainment of the goal that was given to the agency. This is about 9.5 percent growth rate against the 2015 collections,” Dulay said in a press briefing yesterday.

“The figures or the information I received is that traditionally after a collect – after an election year, the growth rate goes down. In our case, while we have not achieved the goal, we were able to at least maintain that growth rate in our collection efforts,” he said.

“We have to hire more people to do the collection. That’s why we’re asking Congress to get us out of the Salary Standardization Law.”?Dulay cited the case of the Cordillera Administrative Region, where there is only one collector for three to four municipalities.

“The ideal is one collector for one municipality,” Dulay said.

Dulay believes exempting BIR personnel from the Salary Standardization Law would allow the tax bureau to attract competent lawyers, accountants and other professionals that can help boost revenue generation efforts.

“We need people, we need personnel. So part of our program for 2017 is to go into a massive recruitment mode,” he said.