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By Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter
THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)
said inflation caused value-added tax (VAT) collections to drop in
the first half of this year.
Recent data showed that the
bureau’s VAT collection declined by 5.7 percent during the period,
as the BIR only collected P67.8 billion, way below the target of
P91.3 billion. It collected P72.03 billion last year.
Compared with a year ago, VAT
collection this year is short by P4.1 billion as inflation ate up
potential taxes, the BIR said.
It blamed its failure to meet the
sales tax target in the first few months on the lifting of the
70-percent ceiling on the amount of input VAT credits that companies
can claim.
The bureau is looking at
collecting P177.6 billion in VAT, or a 26-percent increase from last
year’s P141 billion.
The agency said the number of
individual VAT taxpayers this year will increase by 38.5 percent to
529,512. The number of corporate VAT taxpayers is also expected to
increase by 21 percent to 346,271.
The BIR is under pressure to
increase its collection, after it fell short of its collection
target in the first half. The BIR contributes around 70 percent of
the government’s tax revenues.
Despite the huge shortfall in the
first half, the inter-agency Development and Budget Coordinating
Committee has retained the BIR’s P765.8-billion overall collection
target for this year.
Bureau aims to tap bigger
amount from MCA
The BIR also plans to meet its
anticorruption program target this year, or a year ahead of schedule
so it can avail of more assistance from the United States’
Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).
Lilian Hefti, BIR officer in
charge, said the bureau originally set to file 116 cases before the
courts by December next year, but added that the target may be met
much earlier.
“We hope to meet this target
one year earlier by the end of 2007, in order for us to graduate
from the compact level under the MCA and thereby avail of more
extensive support from the MCA,” she said.
The Department of Budget and
Management released P258.6 billion last February to the BIR, the
Department of Finance (DOF) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) as part
of the P1-billion-anticorrup-tion fund.
The amount released to the BIR
would be used to improve its Run After Tax Evaders program and also
boost the investigative skills and capabilities of agents of the DOF-Revenue
Integrity Protection Service to conduct lifestyle checks and
investigate corruption allegations. The amount released to BOC would
reinforce its Run After The Smugglers program.
Last year, the US government
extended the $20.685-million MCA grant to the Philippines to assist
countries that are on the “threshold” of eligibility for MCA
Compacts. Of the total grant, about $9.4 million would go to the BIR
and the DOF-RIPS, $3.1 million to BOC and $6.5 million to the Office
of the Ombudsman.
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