THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) fell short of its P235.23-billion revenue collection goal for April due to the reimposition of stricter lockdown measures in the National Capital Region Plus (NCR Plus).
Citing final data, BIR Deputy Commissioner for Operations Group Arnel SD. Guballa told the BusinessMirror that the bureau collected P219.04 billion in April, missing its monthly goal by 6.88 percent.
However, BIR’s revenue take for April this year jumped by 142 percent from only P90.5 billion in the same month last year.
Unlike last year, BIR did not extend this year the April 15 filing deadline for the annual income tax returns.
Asked for the reason behind the BIR missing its monthly goal this year, Guballa said “business [was] not fully operational” during the period owing to the reimposition of stricter lockdown measures in NCR Plus to address the surge in the number of Covid-19 cases.
Metro Manila and four nearby provinces Cavite, Rizal, Laguna, and Bulacan were placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine starting March 22 until April 11. After that, the government eased the restrictions in NCR Plus to Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine starting April 12 and this lasted until May 14.
It was only last Saturday, May 15, when NCR Plus shifted to General Community Quarantine with heightened restrictions. This is set to last until May 31.
From January to April this year, BIR also missed its revenue collection target of P698.79 billion.
During the four-month period, Guballa said their cumulative revenue take settled at P689.53 billion, 1.3 percent short of its goal.
Nonetheless, this is still up by 23.3 percent from P559.29 billion it collected from January to April 2020.
Guballa also hopes they can still hit their full-year 2021 collection goal of P2.081 trillion.
Last year, BIR collected P1.95 trillion, exceeding its downscaled revenue collection target of P1.686 trillion.
The government hopes to raise more revenues this year to cover the expected higher budget deficit which is now projected by the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) to reach P1.86 trillion or 9.4 percent of the country’s GDP.
On Tuesday, the DBCC slashed its growth projection for the Philippine economy this year to 6 to 7 percent from its previous forecast range of 6.5 to 7.5 percent also due to the implementation of stricter lockdown measures in NCR Plus during the second quarter of this year. Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua has said the economy needs to grow an average of 10 percent in the next three quarters to achieve the low-end of the government’s target.
Last week, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that GDP contracted 4.2 percent in the first quarter of the year, marking the economy’s fifth consecutive quarter of decline.
For next year, the DBCC also downgraded its forecast for the country’s GDP growth to 7 to 9 percent, lower than its previous projection of 8 to 10 percent.
For 2023 and 2024, it also expects the economy to grow by 6 to 7 percent.