The move of the Department of Finance and its attached agencies to vigorously pursue digital transformation programs long before the pandemic helped boost revenue collections in 2021.
In a statement Friday, the DoF said the tack yielded the biggest positive impact on the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs.
Preliminary data show the BIR collected P2.07 trillion in 2021, or just short by 0.3 percent of its target set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee for the year.
The BOC, meanwhile, overshot its target, collecting P645.77 billion, or 4.7 percent over its DBCC-set goal of P616.75 billion for 2021.
The BIR’s ongoing digital transformation program, which has expanded the range of electronic payment channels that allow taxpayers to file and pay their taxes online, enabled it to continue collecting taxes even amid the mobility restrictions resulting from the pandemic.
With the shift to contactless transactions, almost 100 percent of annual income tax returns were filed online in 2021, the BIR said.