Despite Train, BIR 13 exceeds collection target

THE biggest impact of the Tax Reform Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) Law on tax collection is the income tax exemption of wage earners from P250,000 and below.

As a result, lawyer Hector Baronda, chief of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) 13 Legal Division, said income tax collection from wage earners in the amount of P6 billion in 2017 was reduced to only P3 billion in 2018.

He said wage earners are used to paying the correct income taxes because their employers deduct the amount from their salaries before they receive their pay.

BIR 13 covers Cebu and Bohol.

To compensate for the loss, they are strengthening their enforcement and monitoring on tax evasion, fake cigarette tax stamps, fake electronic certificates of registration (e-car) and maneuvering of tax payments.

“The goal here is to increase compliance of taxpayers. The BIR has to instill fear in taxpayers that if they will not pay the correct taxes, they will be charged in court and will possibly face imprisonment,” Baronda said.

On the other hand, Baronda told SunStar Cebu that BIR 13 collected P7.5 billion in taxes for the first quarter of 2019, much higher than the P6.067 billion collected during the same period in 2018.

Baronda said the goal for the first quarter of 2019 is P7.2 billion, which means their actual collection exceeded the goal by P253 million.

“We hope we can sustain this performance towards the end of the year,” Baronda said.

In connection with the Train Law, the value-added tax (VAT) has a bigger target, from P2 billion to P3 billion. Although there is a small drop in collection, the BIR 13 will concentrate on enforcement.

“We will wait for another two years to see the real effect of the Train Law. But definitely, it has benefited the low-income families who are exempted from paying taxes,” Baronda said. (EOB)

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