THE Department of Finance (DOF) confirmed on Monday that revenue drawn from implementation of Republic Act 10963, or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN), exceeded the government’s target in the first half of 2019.
In its latest data, DOF’s Strategy, Economics, and Results Group (Serg) showed that it collected at least P55.6 billion net revenue by the end of June, P52.1 billion above its target for the first quarter of 2019.
Appearing at a Senate hearing in late September, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III gave an initial estimate of P55.6 billion in revenues collected from January to June 2019 from TRAIN, which took effect last year.
The Serg latest bulletin also showed that the largest gains for the year under the TRAIN law came from documentary stamp (DST) collections, sweetened drinks and tobacco excise.
Petroleum excise tax is above target by P3.4 billion, due to higher-than-programmed volume of imports, and better compliance in anticipation of the fuel-marking program rollout.
Sweetened beverage excise tax is above target by P1.5 billion due to improved compliance as result of the issuance of a revenue regulation that provided clear guidelines on the coverage of the SB excise tax. This also resulted in the increase in the number of non-large taxpayers from 36 to 42.
Tobacco excise tax is above target by P2.1 billion, due to better compliance as the government continued to crack down on illicit tobacco trade.
Documentary stamp tax is above target by P2.8 billion given higher transaction value and better collection efficiency.
Meanwhile, revenue collections that failed to meet their respective target estimates under the TRAIN law included motor vehicle and value-added taxes (VAT).
Automobile excise tax is short by P7.7 billion due to lower volume of imports, while VAT is short by P3.6 billion. “The main reason cited by the BOC is that there are only six previously-exempted taxpayers [power transmission, jewelries, National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, Philippine Sports Commission, Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas] that reported importations, which are now VATable,” the report said.
Image credits: Roy Domingo