Finance Secretary Ralph Recto is pushing for digitalization and data sharing to boost the government’s revenue collections.
Recto said with the majority of consumers shifting to the e-commerce market, there is a need for enhanced digitalization efforts and aligning practices with countries with advanced tax collection systems such as South Korea, Singapore and Japan.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the digital economy grew 7.7 percent to P2.05 trillion in 2023 from P1.90 trillion in 2022.
This translated into an 8.4-percent contribution to the domestic economy last year.
Recto said to streamline taxpayer records and improve tax collection efficiency, he would meet with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Bureau of Customs (BOC), Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bureau of Local Government to establish a comprehensive data-sharing agreement.
The BIR collected P912.9 billion in the first four months of 2024, a 16.3-percent increase from the same period last year.
Customs collections grew 6.3 percent in the same period, reaching P295.2 billion.
The government set a revenue collection target of P4.3 trillion this year. The bulk of the tax revenues amounting to P3.05 trillion will be generated by the BIR, while the BOC is expected to contribute P1 trillion. The remainder will come from non-tax revenues.