BIR 13 cuts collection target

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) 13 tax collection target for 2020 has been slashed to P34.15 billion amid the economic crisis brought by the coronavirus disease pandemic.

The tax goal of the BIR 13, which collects taxes in Cebu and Bohol, has dropped 11.57 percent from the original target of P38.62 billion set early this year.

The mass quarantine has led to wide business closures, hurting the government’s tax collection growth.

Nationwide, the BIR’s collection target has been downscaled to P2.26 trillion from the previous P2.576 trillion. The revised BIR’s operations target was set at P2.206 billion while the goal for non-BIR operations stood at P54.584 billion.

The BIR operations cover the collection of taxes slapped on individual and corporate net income and profits, value-added tax, excise taxes and percentage taxes.

“The revised BIR operations target is lower by P289.296 billion or 11.59 percent compared to the initial goal of P2.495 trillion. The decrease in BIR operations collection target of 11.59 percent was uniformly applied to all implementing offices,” BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay said.

Earlier, BIR 13 Director Eduardo Pagulayan expected a “very substantial” drop in tax collection for the first quarter of 2020 as quarantine measures due to the coronavirus outbreak hurt local businesses.

He cited companies in the tourism industry as among the most affected by store closures, resulting in dismal tax collection.

“Our economy is down because of Covid-19. Many businesses are closed and tax deadlines are also extended so definitely collection of taxes for the first quarter compared to the first quarter of last year will be down,” Pagulayan said.

The BIR had already extended the deadline for income tax return filing and payment twice due to the prolonged quarantine period.

According to Department of Finance data, the BIR collected P480.64 billion from Jan. 1 to April 17, down 32 percent year-on-year and 45.3 percent lower than the target.

During the period of April 1 to 17, the BIR collected only P25.01 billion.

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