BIR misses collection target for third straight month

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has missed its collection target for the third month in a row in March after data from the agency showed that tax take that month hit P74.84 billion, or P14.197 billion short of the P89.037 billion target Although the P244.1 billion collection in the first quarter this year was P22.984 billion short of the BIR's P267.084 billion target for the three-month period, it was 6.6-percent higher than the P229.04 billion registered in the same period last year. Of this amount, P233.41 billion came from BIR operations, with the remaining P10.65 billion coming from non-BIR operations, the agency said. “This year’s first quarter collection from BIR operations increased by P19.43 billion over last year’s collection of P214 billion or an increase of 9.08 percent,” the BIR said.   It added continuing the trend from last year, the regional offices increased its collection by 20.01 percent, while the Large Taxpayer Service increased its collection by 3.16 percent.   Collection from non-BIR operations, however, decreased by 29.28 percent or P 4.41 billion. The BIR is eyeing to collect a total of P1.25 trillion this year, or an improvement of 17 percent from P1.066 trillion in 2012. — KBK, GMA News