The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has raked in P995.04 million in taxes after it padlocked errant firms in the first five months of the year, the Department of Finance (DOF) said yesterday.
The DOF said in a statement the tax agency, under its Oplan Kandado program, shut down the operations of 207 commercial establishments in January to May 2021 for various tax code violations.
BIR collections from its Oplan Kandado program so far this year has already exceeded the amount generated for the entire year of 2020.
Last year, BIR’s Oplan Kandado program led to the closure of 209 establishments and the collection of P607.87 million in taxes.
In May alone, the BIR has padlocked 36 establishments and collected P37.3 million in back taxes from the said firms.
Arnel Guballa, BIR deputy commissioner, also said that in May alone, the bureau filed 26 complaints for preliminary investigation before the Department of Justice involving P702.73 million in estimated tax liabilities.
In the Court of Appeals, the BIR filed another eight cases involving P1.04 billion in estimated tax deficiencies in May this year, Guballa added.
The Bureau of the Treasury earlier reported that the BIR notched double-digit growth of 60.54 percent as it recorded total collections of P183.7 billion in May, compared to the P114.4 billion posted a year ago.
This pushed the agency’s cumulative uptake to P872.4 billion for the five-month period, 29.49 percent better than collections made in January to May 2020 of P673.7 billion. – Angela Celis
