BIR likely to exceed P157-billion Q1 collection target

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) expects to exceed its March collection target, as well as its goal this quarter, its chief told reporters in a briefing on Wednesday. BIR Commissioner Joel L. Tan-Torres said he was upbeat that his bureau, which accounts for about two-thirds of state tax revenues, would exceed its P53.4-billion collection goal for this month. "The trend is very good for March… From March 1-17 last year compared [with] this year, we are ahead by P8 billion," Tan-Torres said, noting that actual collections from the same period last year amounted to P20 billion. He said actual collections for March last year reached P52 billion. "We’re expecting to exceed our [P157.7-billion] first-quarter collection target because of our programs and enhanced enforcement measures," Tan-Torres said, while also citing improving business conditions. Tan-Torres said preliminary data showed BIR collections for January to February had hit P115 billion, already above the P104-billion goal for the two months. He said collections from the 5-percent withholding tax from campaign paraphernalia expenditures under the BIR’s "Iboto Mo" project — expected to start trickling in this month — should likewise contribute to the agency’s collections. The official campaign period for national candidates — president, vice-president, senators and party-list groups — runs from February 9 to May 8. The campaign period for local candidates — congressmen and local officials — runs from March 26 to May 8. The BIR on Wednesday signed deals with the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) and National Bureau Investigation (NBI) and Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to strengthen its Run After Tax Evaders campaign. Tan-Torres noted that 87 complaints of tax evasion had been submitted to the Department of Justice (DoJ) since 2005. "So far, only six out of the 87 cases have progressed to the filing of criminal cases in court," he lamented. Among the reasons for poor prosecution, he said, are the change in the priorities of the BIR with each change in leadership, as well as the lack of coordination between the BIR and other government agencies. Under the deal, the NBI and CIDG will help in surveillance and enforcement, as well as in serving summons, warrants of arrest, garnishment or levy. The BIR will train NBI and CIDG counterparts in the area of tax fraud and audit. It will also inform the NBI and CIDG of criminal activities it may uncover in the course of its tax probe. "This can strengthen the existing program to prosecute those businesses that are not paying or declaring correct taxes," Tan-Torres said. The deal between the BIR and the solicitor general seeks to better define the responsibilities of each office in handling tax cases. BIR lawyers will take the lead in cases at the Justice department, Court of Tax Appeals, municipal, metropolitan and regional trial courts. The solicitor general will handle cases appealed before the Supreme Court. The government hopes that improved revenue collection would help trim its budget deficit to P293 billion this year, which is equivalent to 3.5 percent of the gross domestic product, from a record P298.5 billion last year. It posted a deficit of P37.1 billion in January, a billion less than a year earlier, as tax revenues jumped by nearly a fifth. — Louella D. Desiderio, BusinessWorld with Reuters