Tax bureau tops goal in September

THE BUREAU of Internal Revenue (BIR) breached its target for a second month for 2014 in September, but the year-to-date tally still fell short of the goal for those nine months, according to data the Finance department released through a statement yesterday.

BIR collections last month totaled P105.71 billion, up 22.87% from last year’s P86.034-billion take and 2.6% above September’s P102.987-billion target for the month.

September’s tally brought the year-to-date tally to P996.426 billion, up 10.97% from the P897.951 billion collected in 2013’s first nine months.

STILL SHORT
The end-September, haul, however, was still P79.639 billion or 7.4% short of the bureau’s P1.076 trillion target for those nine months.

This year, BIR -- which accounts for about three-fourths of the state’s total tax collections in a year -- first exceeded its monthly target in July -- by 0.05% or P58.52 million.

Collections reached P119.94 billion that month, up 19.82% from the P100.098 billion collected in July last year and above the bureau’s P119.883-billion target for the month.

“The good collection performance for September 2014 was largely due to the increase in collection by the Large Taxpayer Service,” the Finance department said in its statement.

Sought for comment, Internal Revenue Kim S. Jacinto-Henares said in a telephone interview “hard work” drove the agency’s above-target collections.

“We’re still working, trying very hard to reach it or lower the shortfall,” Ms. Henares added, referring to the full-year target.

The BIR’s Large Taxpayers Service -- which accounts for 65% of BIR’s total haul -- exceeded its monthly target by P5.64 billion or 9.33% above the goal. It collected P66.17 billion last month, up 33.69% from the past year’s take.

Collections from BIR operations totaled P101.63 billion, up 24.3% from September 2013 and exceeding its target by 3.1%.

Non-BIR operations -- involving taxes on government securities -- contributed P4.08 billion, 4.62% less than September 2013 collections and P338.83 million or 7.68% short of the goal set for last month.

Regional offices raked in P35.47 billion, up 9.9% from collections in July 2013 but P3.79 billion or 9.66% short of their target for last month.

BIR is mandated to collect P1.456 trillion this year. With the latest tally of 996.426 trillion, it still needs to collect P459.904 billion from this month until December to meet its 2014 target. -- Mikhail Franz E. Flores

source:  Businessworld