Excise tax collections nearly double in Jan

MANILA, Philippines — The government collected P22.078 billion in excise taxes in January, exceeding the P20.501 billion goal for the month by 7.7 percent, according to data from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

In a report to the Department of Finance (DOF), Internal Revenue commissioner Caesar Dulay said the agency’s excise tax collections in January almost doubled to P22.078 billion from the P12.152 billion recorded in the same period in 2017.

Of the amount, Dulay said P12.139 billion came in the form of tobacco excise taxes, also surpassing the P7.944 billion target by 52.8 percent. The figure also represents an increase of 95.91 percent from the P6.196 billion posted in the same period in 2017.

Dulay said excise tax collections from automobiles likewise doubled to P443.34 million from P208.1 million in January 2017. The amount was also 29.42 percent higher than the P342.56 million target for the month.

Meanwhile, tax collections from sugar-sweetened beverages amounted to P2.5 billion in January.

January marked the first month of the implementation of the Republic Act  10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act.

The law, which contains Package 1A of the administration’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP), aims to simplify the country’s tax system by lowering personal income tax rates.  

It also seeks to adjust excise taxes of fuel, automobile, coal and sugar-sweetened beverages and expand the tax base by removing value-added tax exemptions.

According to Department of Finance (DOF) estimates, the law is expected to generate an additional P89.9 billion in revenues for the year.

Earlier, the BIR reported a 15 percent increase in its January collections partly due to the collection of excise taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages.

For 2018, the BIR is targeting to collect P2.039 trillion in taxes, 14.61 percent higher than the previous year’s collection.