BIR misses collection target at the end of July by 8%

THE OFFICE of Internal Revnue (BIR) fell short of its final targetJuly collection target by 8.2%, This is evident from data from the Ministry of Finance (DoF).

Preliminary data on the DoF’s Facebook page showed that BIR collections stood at $1.68 trillion at the end of July, which is 8.2% lower than the $1.83 trillion collection target for the period.

The end-of-July total represents 55.08% of the BIR’s P3.05 trillion collection target for 2024.

Year on year, the BIR’s seven-month revenue rose 12.58%, compared to P1.49 trillion in the same period a year ago.

At the same time, Bureau of Customs (BoC) collections rose 6% to P536.42 billion in the January-July period, compared to P506.49 billion last year.

This accounted for 57.08% of the customs collection target of P939.69 billion for this year.

For the FIn the first seven months of the year, revenues of the BIR and BoC – the main tax collection agencies of the national government – ​​rose 10.89% to P2.22 trillion, compared to P2 trillion a year ago.

According to a DoF statement, Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto held a BIR and BoC command conference on August 16 to review the agencies’ performance and plans to achieve objectives.

During the event, the DoF said the BIR is committed to “strengthening its digitalization programs, intensifying tax enforcement and addressing delinquent accounts.”

“The BoC will continue to improve its assessment and collection of duties and taxes on imports, ensure importer compliance with customs laws and strengthen border protection to detect undervalued and misclassified goods,” the DoF said.

Mr. Recto said the government should boost collections as economic growth is expected to accelerate with the recent interest rate cut by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and credit rating upgrade by Rating and Investment Information, Inc. (R&I).

Last week, Japan-based R&I raised the Philippines’ investment grade rating to “A-” to reFhighlight the country’s strong growth prospects. This was one step higher than the country’s previous rating of “BBB+” assigned in August 2023.

The BSP cut interest rates for the US economy last week FFor the first time in almost four years. The Monetary Board cut the target reverse repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 6.25%, down from a 17-year high of 6.5%. — BMDcruz