The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s tax take in November grew 15 percent year-on-year to P157.3 billion on the back of improved processes that allowed taxpayers to pay their dues more easily, the Department of Finance said.

The DOF attributed the increase in BIR collections from P136.4 billion a year ago to “the agency’s streamlined processes that have improved efficiency in monitoring and collecting taxes, particularly the reduction of documentary requirements for one-time transactions (ONETT) and monitoring of process workflow of the agency’s offices.”

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At the end of the first 11 months, the country’s biggest tax-collection agency collected P1.45 trillion, up 9.6 percent year-on-year.

Must collect P1.83 trillion

The BIR had been tasked to collect P1.62 trillion in taxes for the entire 2016. As such, the agency’s tax take in December must hit at least P166 billion.

The Duterte administration’s economic managers upon assumption in office slashed the government’s 2016 revenue goals, citing below-target performance in the collection of tax and non-tax revenues in the first half or the last six months of the Aquino administration.

Under the previous administration, the BIR’s target tax take for 2016 was P2.03 trillion, which could have been the first time that its collections could breach the P2-trillion mark.

Last year, the BIR collected a total of P1.43 trillion, up 7 percent year-on-year but below the P1.67-trillion target.

Next year, the BIR must collect P1.83 trillion, before further increasing its tax-take target to P2.19 trillion in 2018 and P2.44 trillion in 2019.

Foregone revenues

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For 2016, the government’s total revenue take from tax and non-tax collection had been programmed to reach a total of P2.04 trillion, up from P1.82 trillion last year.

The comprehensive tax reform would be needed to help revenue-generating agencies shore up collection and hit their targets and sustain funding for much-needed investments in infrastructure.

In a statement, Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua had reiterated the need to index taxes to inflation, especially those slapped on petroleum products, while also rationalizing the tax perks being given away to investors in certain sectors.

Chua said the government loses up to P100 billion in foregone revenues from leaks in the fiscal incentive regime as well as non-adjustment of dated taxes.

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