The government set a 2016 collection goal of P2 trillion for the Bureau of Internal Revenue, representing a 21-percent increase over the 2015 target.
The BIR issued revenue memorandum order no. 2016-02 on Jan. 6, explaining this year’s revenue collection target was set at P2.025 trillion, breaching the P2-trillion mark for the first time on record.
“This is higher than the P1.674-trillion CY [calendar year] 2015 goal by P0.351 trillion or 21.01 percent,” the BIR said in the memorandum order.
It said of the total target collection, P1.243 trillion was expected to come from income taxes; P405.11 billion from value-added taxes; P170.72 billion from excise taxes; P82.90 billion from percentage taxes; and P123.54 billion from other taxes.
Data showed that the 2016 tax collection target would cover 67 percent of the P3.002 trillion national budget. Other budget sources are import duty collections by the Bureau of Customs, income of the Treasury, fees collected by government agencies and local and foreign financing.
The government said it expected the BIR to collect P425.753 billion in the first quarter of 2016, led by higher income taxes.
Income tax collections are expected to climb to P243.71 billion in the January-March period from P163.32 billion in the same period in 2015.
VAT collections are also expected to rise 10.3 percent in the first quarter to P91.71 billion from P83.142 billion in the first quarter of 2015 while percentage taxes are projected to rise 4.7 percent to P19.93 trillion.
The BIR is the largest revenue collection agency of the government, followed by the Bureau of Customs and Treasury.
Latest data available showed the BIR missed its collection target last year. BIR collections grew 9 percent in the first 11 months of 2015 to P1.33 trillion from P1.22 trillion in the same period in 2014, but fell 14 percent short of the target collection for the period.
Customs collections dropped P2.3 billion, or 0.6 percent in 2015 to P366.9 billion from P369.11 billion in 2014, on lower oil prices.
The 2015 customs collections were also P69.6 billion, or 15.9 percent, below the government’s target of P436.5 billion.