BIR overshoots January collection goal by P2.59B

(Update 6:25 p.m.) The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Tuesday said it surpassed its collection target for January by P2.59 billion. Total collections in the first month of the year reached P74.57 billion, compared with the BIR’s goal of P71.97 billion. Compared with the P64.61-billion the bureau collected in January 2010, the BIR the tax-take in last January rose P9.96 billion or 15.42 percent. Meeting its target for the first month of the year is a good sign for the agency, BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said. "I have to stress that it is still early in the year and we will continue our efforts to collect from everyone what is due, so the country will have enough to fund vital projects that will support future economic growth," Henares said. The BIR last year collected P822.62 billion in tax revenues. To meet the 2011 collection target, Henares said the bureau must collect 14.2 percent more than it did last year. To boost its collection efforts, Henares said the agency is filing tax evasion cases every other week with the Department of Justice. From July 2010 to mid-March, the BIR has filed 33 tax evasion cases against high-profile individuals. Last week, the agency filed cases against two former ranking military officers, their spouses and a relative mired in a corruption scandal in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Separate complaints were filed against retired Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia and his wife, Clarita, retired Lt. Gen. Jacinto Ligot and his wife, Erlinda Yambao-Ligot, and Ligot’s brother-in-law, Edgardo Tecson Yambao. With these cases under litigation and the collections from pending tax assessments, Henares said the BIR will likely meet its P940 billion collection goal for the year. — VS, GMA News