The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said the outbreak of the COVID-19 as well as the recent eruption of the Taal volcano may have an impact on its collections, at least for next month.
Arnel Guballa, BIR deputy commissioner, told reporters at the BIR national office in Quezon City last Friday he has tasked the regional directors for large taxpayers to look into the impact of the Taal eruption and the COVID-19 on the agency’s revenue.
“A lot of large taxpayers are saying that there is low order demand so business has been weak. Hotels have had low occupancy rates, and for other businesses, even if there is a sale, there’s not much customers,” Guballa said.
“It will have an effect (on our collections) next month because those for the month of February will be remitted in March,” he added.
Guballa said the impact in collections is bigger on corporations rather than individual taxpayers.
He added the large taxpayers will account for P1.6 trillion of the P2.5 trillion revenue target for the year.
“We’ve received (feedback from them) not to expect good voluntary payments this coming month,” Guballa said.
To soften the impact, Guballa said the government is also considering alternative ways to raise revenue. However, he also said any impact may not be that significant, even as the agency is still collecting data on the ground.
Last month, the BIR released a circular suspending the deadlines in the acceptance of tax returns and payment of internal revenue taxes of taxpayers in Batangas, following the eruption of the Taal volcano.
The circular states that there will be no imposition of penalties due to late filing and payments of tax returns until an advisory from the BIR is issued to resume regular operations.
