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The country’s tax agency was able to exceed its collection goal of P86.2 billion for April and was able to collect P87.1 billion for the month. Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) commissioner Joel Tan-Torres that the collection for April even exceeded the P87 billion collections for the same period last year.

The collection performance was attributed by the BIR chief to the measures that enhance the agency’s visibility among taxpayers. “It’s because of the growing awareness of taxpayers and the impact of the voluntary compliance is now taking effect,” Tan-Torres said. If not for the losses from tax deductions filed by businesses affected by Ondoy, he said they could even exceeded the target collection by at least P7 billion.

He also said that they estimated P4 billion in revenue losses from a reduction in corporate income tax to 30 percent from 35 percent as mandated by the Reformed Value Added Tax Law in 2005. The BIR collected P173.9 billion in taxes for the first quarter of 2010, exceeding its P157.7 billion goal by P16.2 billion.

Their effort to improve its tax administration measures have been paying off as seen in the increase in collections, Tan-Torres noted. These include a reinvigorated Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) Program, the implementation of its Oplan Kandado Program, a lifestyle check on private citizen similar to what is done on public officials and tougher monitoring of bazaars of tiangges especially during the Christmas season.

The tax agency’s goal for the month of May is P79.9 billion, said Tan-Torres. The BIR is tasked to collect a total of P830 billion this year, which is lower than its previous program of P875 billion.

In spite of the BIR’s rosy collections, the government still breached its budget deficit ceiling of P100.9 billion in the first three months of the year, posting a record budget gap of P134.2 billion during the period.  The budget deficit for the year is expected to hit P293 billion, from the actual P298.5 billion recorded last year.