BIR tax take exceeds pandemic-pared goal to hit P134.4B

By: Ben O. de Vera, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 7 Nov 2020

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P134.4 billion in taxes in October, exceeding the month’s downscaled goal albeit still lower than last year’s take amid a pandemic-induced recession.

Citing preliminary data, Internal Revenue Deputy Commissioner Arnel S.D. Guballa told the Inquirer on Friday that last month’s actual collection was 17.8-percent bigger than the P114.1-billion target.

However, the BIR’s October take dropped 25.1 percent from P179.3 billion a year ago.

The bulk of collections in October came from the large taxpayers’ service, mainly consisting of corporations, which remitted a total of P88.5 billion to the BIR.

The amount collected from large taxpayers surpassed the P78.6-billion goal by 12.6 percent, even as it declined 21.9 percent from the P113.3-billion take in October last year.

As millions of Filipinos lost their jobs and thousands of businesses either shut down or downsized operations due to harder times wrought by the pandemic, the economic team decided to slash the BIR’s 2020 collection target to P1.69 trillion from the prepandemic program of P2.58 trillion.

The BIR is the country’s biggest tax-collection agency, accounting for about two-thirds of government revenues.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said it would release this year P18 billion to local government units (LGUs) that grow tobacco as their share in excise taxes generated from the “sin” product in 2017.

Local Budget Memorandum No. 81 issued by Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado on Nov. 4 declared the LGU shares included P14.4 billion from excise slapped on locally manufactured Virginia-type cigarettes and P3.6 billion from the levy on burley and native tobacco.

This year’s LGU share is bigger than last year’s P15.8 billion, which was sourced from 2016 collections.

Across five provinces that produce Virginia-type cigarettes, Ilocos Sur accounted for the bulk or 57.8 percent of total production in 2017, hence would get the same share or P8.3 billion from that year’s excise tax collections. The amount would be divided among its 34 cities and municipalities.

In Abra, 27 municipalities would divide among themselves P2.2 billion; 20 cities and municipalities in La Union would get P1.7 billion; 23 cities and municipalities in Ilocos Norte, P1.1 billion; and 26 cities and municipalities in Misamis Oriental, P1 billion.

Meanwhile, 14 provinces would get shares from burley and native tobacco production: Abra, Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Isabela, Kalinga, La Union, Maguindanao, Misamis Oriental, North Cotabato, Nueva Vizcaya, Occidental Mindoro, Pangasinan and Tarlac.