Consumer spending fuels rise in VAT collection

MANILA, Philippines - Consumer spending fueled the government’s surge in value added tax (VAT) collections for the first four months this year, the Philippines’ premier revenue body said. However, VAT collected for the period – at P50.78 billion – still fell short of financial targets of P57.76 billion, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said. VAT from January to April was 9.91 percent more than the P46.2 billion collected during the same period last year, the agency added. For the whole year, the government is expecting to collect VAT worth P195.98 billion, lower than last year’s target of P204.88 billion. Last year’s collection reached P140.32 billion. For the month of April, the BIR’s VAT collection reached P6.18 billion, an indication that targets for the second quarter may be missed. For the first three months, the BIR expects to collect P44.6 billion, followed by P49.58 billion in the second quarter, P50.36 billion in the third, and hitting P51.44 billion from October to December. Besides expanding the previous VAT rate of ten percent to twelve, Republic Act 9337, also known as the Reformed VAT Law, also lifted exemptions on fuel and power. - GMANews.TV