BIR exceeded its collection target for January 2011
Posted on March 15th, 2011
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) exceeded its target for January 2011 collection by P2.59 billion. The revenue agency said that it collected for the month of January a total of P74.58 billion, surpassing its target of P71.97 billion, or a 3.6 percent excess of goal. Comparing its collections for the same period last year of P64.61 billion, the actual tax-take in January rose by P9.96 billion or a growth of 15.42 percent.
Meeting, and exceeding, the target in the first month of year is a good signal for the agency, said BIR Commissioner Kim Henares, assuring that they will continue to step up effort to meet its revenue goal for the year of P940 billion. “I have to stress that it is still early in the year and we will continue our efforts to collect from everyone what is due, so that the country will have enough to fund vital projects that will support future economic growth,” she said.
Henares said they need to increase their collections from previous year by 14.2 percent to be able to meet their year-end target. The BIR generated a total of P822.62 billion in tax revenues last year. As such, she said they have been filing tax evasion cases every other week before the Department of Justice (DOJ).
A total of 33 tax evasion cases have already been filed by the agency against high-profile individuals, from July of last year up to mid-March of this year. Just last week, BIR filed charges against two former ranking military officers, their spouses and a relative mired in corruption in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Separate complaints have been filed by the BIR against Retired Major General Carlos Garcia and his wife Clarita; Retired Lt. General Jacinto Ligot and his wife Erlinda Yambao-Ligot; and Ligot’s brother-in-law Edgardo Tecson Yambao. Henares said that with these cases, and their other expected collections from pending tax assessments, they will be able to meet their target of P940 billion for the year.
