Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 19) — State collections on taxes and custom duties from January to May fell short of the government’s ₱1.062 trillion target as the Philippine economy grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, the Finance Department reported on Friday.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs collected ₱874.91 billion in the first five months of the year, the agency said in a statement. This is ₱187.5 billion less than the target set for the period.
The BIR hauled ₱664.74 billion from January to May, ₱184.17 billion short of the ₱848.81 billion target for the said period. Last month’s collections plunged, with the tax collecting body only gathering ₱105.44 billion in May — over 67 percent short of the ₱320.47 billion target for the month.
Income tax collections also took a hit, only amounting to ₱341.58 billion within the period, which is over 22 percent less than the ₱439.84 target collection.
The BIR extended the deadline for settling income tax requirements for 2019 until June 14. Originally set on April 15 yearly, the due date had since been extended thrice to provide taxpayers sufficient time to prepare after lockdowns were implemented in light of the pandemic.
Value-added tax collections from large taxpayers reached ₱88.1 billion, which is ₱3.7 billion higher from the period target. This brought the total collection from January to May to ₱125.52 billion.
Similar to the BIR, the BOC fell short of its target collections for the period, only rounding up ₱210.18 billion. The amount is over 1.50 percent less than the ₱213.51 goal set for the agency. In May, the BOC had only acquired ₱30.01 billion, nearly 10 percent short of its ₱33.33 billion target.
