Revenue collections rebounded 28 percent in June from a 49-percent slump in May after the government eased the restrictions in Metro Manila that allowed offices to reopen.
Data from the Finance Department showed the combined collections by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs reached P211.50 billion in June, up P59.28 billion or 28 percent from the same month last year. They were also much higher than P135.5 billion collected by the two agencies in May.
The figure brought total collections in the first six months to P1.155 trillion, down P220.47 billion or 16 percent from P1.375 trillion a year ago, “as an unprecedented coronavirus pandemic continued to pummel the economy and restrict business activity in most parts of the country.
It was P32.73 billion or 2.76 percent below the revised target of P1.187 trillion for the January-June period this year.
The BIR collected P228.23 billion in June, topping by P68.04 billion or 42.47 percent the P160.2 billion it raised in the same period month last year. However, the actual take was P56.57 billion or 19.86 percent less than the target of P284.8 billion for June 2020.
Meanwhile, the BOC surpassed its collection goal of P40.74 billion for June as import volume began to improve, with the bureau collecting P42.54 billion, representing P1.8 billion or 4.42 percent above the target.
“Even with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, the country’s large taxpayers delivered P145.81 billion in taxes to the BIR in June, which is P37.85 billion or 35.05 percent higher than the P107.97 billion they paid during the same month last year,” the Finance Department said.
It said that in terms of income taxes, the Large Taxpayers Service of the BIR collected P83.73 billion in June, a vast improvement of P37.87 billion or P82.58 percent compared to the P45.86 billion in the same month last year.
Improvements were also seen in the collection of the value-added tax from large taxpayers, with the BIR collecting P24.25 billion in June, which was P2.54 billion or 11.7 percent in excess of the target of P21.71 billion for the month, and P1.57 billion or 6.94 percent better than the P22.68 billion collected in June 2019.
“As a result, from Jan. 1 to June 30, the BIR collected a total of P112.35 billion in VAT from large taxpayers, beating its goal of P106.09 billion for this period by P6.27 billion or 5.91 percent. The BIR collected P126.6 billion for the same period in 2019,” the agency said.
Data showed that the BIR collected P901.96 billion in the first half, including the months when strict quarantine measures were imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus that led to a virtual economic standstill in Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon.
“As a result, the BIR’s January to June 2020 collection is P170.5 billion or 15.9 percent lower than the P1.072 trillion it collected during the same period last year. The January to June collection is also P31.52 billion or 3.38 percent less than the target of P933.49 billion,” the department said.
“With the volume of imports posting a steady decline in the first five months of 2020 because of this global health emergency, the Customs collected P253.04 billion from Jan. 1 to June 30, which is only slightly lower by P1.21 billion or 0.47 percent of the adjusted target of P254.25 billion for the January-June period this year,” it said.
The amount was P49.97 billion or 16.49 percent lower than the Customs collection of P303.01 billion during the same period in 2019.