THE Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) tax collection in Cebu and Bohol hit P16.49 billion in the first half of 2019.
The six-month 2019 collection was up 20.81 percent from P13.65 billion in the same period last year but 0.60 percent short of the agency’s P16.59 billion goal for the period, based on official data.
BIR 13 regional chief Eduardo Pagulayan told SunStar Cebu Tuesday, July 30, 2019, he is optimistic to hit the P34.75 billion overall target for 2019.
Pagulayan noted BIR 13, which has five revenue district offices in Cebu and Bohol, will continue its enforcement activities.
“(We have) Oplan Kandado, our tax mapping operations and strict monitoring of our taxpayers in their withholding and reportorial compliance,” the BIR official pointed out.
He added they were also eyeing to boost their tax education and information campaign to further help raise their collection for the rest of the year.
The expanding economic activity in Cebu has turned it into a big tax revenue generator, with growing sectors such as real estate, retail and hospitality.
Of its total goal for 2019, BIR 13 is tasked to collect P19.44 billion in income taxes, P11.33 billion in value-added taxes and P20.45 million in excise taxes.
BIR 13 missed meeting its collection goal in 2018, the year when the government implemented the first package of its comprehensive tax reform program.
BIR 13 collected a total of P27.89 billion in taxes, 12.95 percent short of its P32.04-billion collection goal for the year.
The first package of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) Law, which cuts personal income taxes but imposes new excise taxes on cigarettes, sugary drinks, oil products and vehicles, among other goods, affected the agency’s collection performance last year.
The government was expecting that the new taxes on consumption would compensate for the lower personal income tax rates under the Train Law, which pulled down income tax collections in 2018.