BIR bent on hitting P1.83T collection target in 2017

Despite failing short of meeting collection goals in previous years, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is optimistic about hitting its P1.829-trillion target this year in support of the administration's plan to ramp up spending on public infrastructure.

"Remember, the plan from the secretary of Budget is that the government will go into a massive infrastructure spending. With that kind of spending, automatically we foresee an increase in collection this year," BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay told reporters in a press conference at the BIR head office in Quezon City.

"We are quite bullish in terms of our outlook for 2017," the commissioner said.

Sought for a comment, Tax Management Association of the Philippines President Benedict Tugonon said the passage of tax reform measures will improve voluntary compliance with paying right taxes.

"Businesses and the economy will grow as projected and the promised foreign investments will come in," the TMAP official noted.

"We can only expect tax collection to go up and the goal might just be attained," Tugonon added.

The bureau collected P157.29 billion in November 2016, up 15.34 percent from P136.37 billion a year earlier, with collections in the first 11 months reaching P1.454 trillion – up 9.6 percent.

In December, Dulay said the bureau likely registered a 5.05 percent collection growth.

"We are definitely seeing an improvement from the July collection up to the end of the year. As we mentioned, for November we have 15 percent growth rate and for December 5.05 percent," he said.

The collection goal this year was set by the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC), taking into consideration the bureau's collection performance previous months.

Based on the BIR's below-target performance in the first half of 2016, the administration's economic managers slashed the bureau's full-year target to P1.62 trillion from the P2.03 trillion set by the Aquino administration.

Asked if the BIR will adjust or reduce its 2017 target depending on the fate of the comprehensive tax reform program in Congress, Dulay said, "We will try to cope up with the target regardless of the tax reform package."

Now pending in Congress, the tax reform package proposed by the Department of Finance seeks to reduce both the personal and corporate income taxes while imposing higher and additional excise taxes on transport and fuel products.

"If the tax reform package is passed then we will ask our tax administrators to implement the collection process involving that tax reform law," Duly said. — VS, GMA News