No extension: Tax filings to lift BIR collections to P406 billion in April

MANILA, Philippines —  The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is expecting to collect more than P400 billion this month, largely driven by the annual income tax return (ITR) filing which will not be extended beyond April 15.

BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui said the deadline of filing and payment of the ITRs, which summarizes a taxpayer’s transactions last year, is still on April 15.

“Our tax campaign started early in February. So that should be enough time for our taxpayers to be reminded of the tax filing on April 15,” Lumagui told The STAR.

“We set up a lot of tax filing centers nationwide, conducted webinars and most especially, our online facilities are working so they can do it on weekends and even holidays,” he said.

It should be noted that filing and payment beyond the set deadline will be grounds for charging taxpayers with corresponding interests, surcharges and compromise penalties.

Generally, an individual needs to file an income tax if he or she is earning.

However, there are exemptions including those with salaries of not exceeding P250,000, employees covered by substituted filing, those whose income were subjected to final withholding tax as well as the minimum wage earners.

It is estimated that there are over 3.8 million individual taxpayers and roughly 800,000 corporate taxpayers required to file ITRs.

With the consolidation of the tax filing this month, the BIR estimates that collections should reach around P406 billion.

Of the total amount, half or around P199 billion will come from taxes on net income and profits. Others will be sourced through value-added taxes, excise taxes and percentage taxes, among others.

The P406 billion goal for April is 21 percent higher than the P336 billion collected during last year’s tax season.

Lumagui said only a small percentage of taxpayers have yet to file and pay with three days left before the deadline.

“I think because we had an aggressive campaign at the national and regional levels. We also had tax mapping, which we did for the first time,” Lumagui said.

Over the past months, BIR held a tax compliance verification drive (TCVD) where all revenue regions and revenue district offices in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao were deployed to visit establishments to educate taxpayers on their tax obligations.

It was also aimed at advising taxpayers on better compliance with existing tax laws, rules and regulations.