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By Chino S. Leyco Reporter
THE Bureau of Internal Revenue
said Friday that its extended tax amnesty
program has collected almost a billion pesos in additional funds.
Deputy Commissioner Nelson Aspe
said the agency raised an additional P700,000 to P800,000 in
revenues after the Department of Finance extended the tax amnesty
program from March 6 to May 5.
“We have yet to come up with
the final figure, but I think its around P5 billion,” he told
reporters. This is above the programmed P3.5 billion.
The government extended the
program after learning a technical glitch delayed the implementation
of the law.
Aspe said delinquent taxpayers
who failed to avail of the program will be prosecuted.
This latest in a string of
amnesties the government has pursued was designed to enhance revenue
administration and collection by granting amnesty on all unpaid
taxes the government imposed for taxable year 2005 and prior years,
under certain conditions.
Aspe said tax collection last
month is likely to exceed the target of P84 billion.
“We have no figures yet for
April. Maybe the initial report saying we collected P89 billion is
correct,” he said.
In the first three months of the
year, BIR collections increased 12.26 percent to P163 billion from
P143.1 billion last year. In March alone, the agency collected at
least P56.65 billion.
This year, the BIR is asking the
finance department to adjust its collection goal to below P800
billion, or close to the P765 billion target for last year.
The BIR contributes around 70
percent of the government’s tax revenues.
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