THE Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) 2020 collection target has been slashed by more than 12 percent, as its revenues have been dwindling due to economic disruptions brought about by the community quarantine measures imposed to suppress the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The agency has issued revenue memorandum order 12-2020 dated April 27,2020, in reference to the revised BIR collection target for this year, which was approved by the interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee last month.
“The bureau’s 2020 goal was reduced to P2.26 trillion,” the order, signed by Caesar Dulay, BIR commissioner, said.
The agency’s original target set for this year is P2.576 trillion.
The BIR said its revised collection target comprises the agency’s operations goal of P2.2 trillion, and P54.58 billion for non-BIR operations.
The agency said the revised operations target of P2.2 trillion is lower by 11.59 percent compared to the initial goal of P2.5 trillion.
“The decrease in BIR operations collection target of 11.59 percent was uniformly applied to all implementing offices,” the memo said.
The Department of Finance (DOF) earlier reported revenues of the BIR from January to mid-April this year fell by 45.3 percent versus target, and dived 32 percent from the year ago level.
While the BIR traditionally has significant collections during this time of the year due to the April 15 deadline for the filing and payment of the annual tax returns, the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) implemented in Luzon and other parts of the country has prompted the agency to extend the deadlines for the filing and payment of income and other taxes to next month, as movement of taxpayers are limited by the anti-COVID-19 measures.
Preliminary data submitted by the BIR to the DOF show from January 1 to April 17, the BIR only collected P480.64 billion, P398.54 billion short of the target of P879.18 billion, and P226.15 billion below what it collected for the same period last year.
The BIR, which accounts for 78 percent of the state’s tax collection capacity, reported even more discouraging numbers for the April 1 to 17 period, the DOF said, with collections reaching only P25.01 billion, or just 8.66 percent of its target of P288.75 billion for the entire month.
Compared to the April 2019 actual collection of P237.93 billion, the amount collected from April 1 to 17 is 89.5 percent short.
The BIR has not yet announced whether it would issue new adjustments to the deadlines after President Duterte extended the ECQ anew in Metro Manila and other provinces to May 15 and relaxed the quarantine in other parts of the country.
