REVENUES generated by main collecting agencies of the government for the first half of the year dropped by 16 percent to P1.155 trillion from P1.375 trillion a year ago as the economy continued to suffer because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
With restrictions in business activity in most parts of the country due to the Covid-induced lockdowns, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) also missed their combined target of P1.187 trillion from January to June this year, according to the preliminary data submitted to the Department of Finance (DOF).
This, despite collections picking up in June with the easing of the quarantine measures as BIR and BOC reported collecting a combined total of P270.77 billion, exceeding last year’s figure for the same month of P211.50 billion by 28.03 percent.
BIR performance
The BIR, which accounts for the bulk of the government’s tax collections, reported a tentative total of P901.96 billion as of end-June. This was a 15.9-percent plunge from the P1.072 trillion it collected in the same period last year.
The BIR also fell short of its P933.49-billion collection target for this year’s first semester.
As of end-June this year, the BIR’s Large Taxpayers Service (LTS) collected P273.24 billion in income taxes, 7.61 percent shy of the P295.77-billion target for this period, and 15.47 percent less than the P323.25-billion tax take for the first half of 2019.
On top of this, the BIR also collected a total of P112.35 billion in Value-Added Tax (VAT) from large taxpayers, beating its goal of P106.09 billion for this period by 5.91 percent. However, this was an 11.26-percent dip from last year’s P126.6 billion.
For the six-month period, income and other taxes from large taxpayers amounted to P581.40 billion, 4.91 percent less than the collection goal of P611.41 billion for this period. It is also 17.23 percent lower than the P702.45 billion collected by the LTS during the same period in 2019.
Most of the extensions of the deadlines set by the BIR for the filing and paying of various taxes ended last month.
On the other hand, the BOC’s collections also plummeted by 16.49 percent to P253.04 billion as of end-June compared to last year’s P303.01 billion. With the steady decline in the volume of imports in the first five months of the year due to the global health crisis, the BOC also failed to hit its adjusted target of P254.25 billion for the first semester.
June collections
For June alone, the BIR managed to exceed by 42.47 percent its P160.2-billion collection in the same month last year as it reported a tax take of P228.23 billion.
Even with the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, the country’s large taxpayers delivered P145.81 billion in taxes to the BIR in June, 35.05 percent higher than the P107.97 billion they paid during the same month last year.
In terms of income taxes, BIR’s LTS collected P83.73 billion in June, an 82.58-percent growth compared to the P45.86 billion for the same month last year.
Improvements were also seen in the VAT collection from large taxpayers as the BIR collected P24.25 billion in June, 11.7 percent more than the target of P21.71 billion for the month. This was also higher by 6.94 percent than the P22.68 billion collected in June 2019.
Customs performance
For its part, the BOC surpassed its P40.74-billion collection goal by 4.42 percent as import volumes began to improve, with the bureau collecting P42.54 billion in June.
In a separate statement on Thursday, the BOC attributed its positive revenue collection performance for the month to the gradual improvement of the volume of importation and to the government’s effort to ensure unhampered movement of goods domestically and internationally considering the pandemic situation.
Based on the preliminary report from the BOC-Financial Service, 11 of the 17 collection districts hit their respective targets, namely: the Port of San Fernando La Union, Port of Legaspi, Port of Cebu, Port of Tacloban, Port of Cagayan de Oro, Port of Zamboanga, Port of Davao, Port of Subic, Port of Clark, Port of Aparri and Port of Limay.
Despite this performance, the bureau said it still maintained its enhanced control measures against undervaluation, misdeclaration and other forms of technical smuggling to protect the country’s borders and collect lawful revenues.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes