BIR collection hits P669 billion in first quarter

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) saw its tax collection rise to P669 billion in the first quarter on the back of improved value-added tax (VAT) take.

During the annual income tax return filing deadline on Tuesday, BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. said preliminary data showed that collections reached P668.79 billion from January to March.

The amount is 13 percent higher than the P591.77 billion generated in the same period last year.

The first quarter tax take is also near the P671.99-billion target for the three-month period. Lumagui said he is confident that the BIR would exceed the initial data as collections are still being consolidated with the Bureau of the Treasury.

“This was driven by VAT, especially after our drive against fake receipts,” Lumagui said.

“In fact, we saw higher compliance among corporations. Ghost receipts target the VAT rather than the income tax,” he said.

VAT collections contribute about 22 percent to the entire BIR collection every year.

BIR estimates showed that the government is losing at least P370 billion in revenues from the proliferation of fake transactions through the use of ghost receipts by various business activities in the country.

This is based on the income tax rate of 25 percent and VAT of 12 percent.

“This year, we really saw more businesses coordinating with us regarding fake receipts,” Lumagui said.

During the first quarter, the bulk of the collections at 97 percent came from BIR operations totaling P647.48 billion, up by 13.2 percent.

This was a combination of net income taxes, excise, VAT and percentage taxes of the regional offices and the large taxpayer service.

The remaining P21.31 billion came from non-BIR operations.

Following the first quarter performance, the BIR has reached 20.6 percent of its full-year tax goal of P3.232 trillion.

“We are confident that we will continue to have a good collection performance over the coming months,” Lumagui said.