The Philippines: BIR, Customs miss 1Q20 collection goal

• The government’s main collection agencies failed to meet their revenue targets for 1Q20, as Mar 20 collections took a hit due to the Luzon-wide lockdown that shuttered government and business operations.
• Citing preliminary data, the Finance department reported the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs (BoC) generated a combined PHP600.86bn from Jan – Mar 20. This was 20.63% or P156.26 billion short of the PHP757.12bn revenue target for 1Q20, and PHP10.17bn lower than the collections in 1Q19.
• Collections in Mar 20 were significantly affected by the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon which began on 16 Mar 20 and has been extended until 30 Apr 20.
• For the month of Mar 20, the BIR and BoC collected PHP163.15bn, representing 65.65% of the month’s P248.5-billion goal, and 17.45% lower than the PHP197.64bn collected in Mar 19.
• BIR collections in Mar 20 slumped 20.06% y/y to PHP118.35bn, which represented only 62.13% of the PHP190.48bn target for Mar 20. Collections from large taxpayers fell 17.42% to PHP80.19bn.
• Customs revenues also declined 9.66% to PHP44.8bn in Mar 20, which also fell 22.78% short of the PHP58.02bn target.
• Meanwhile, National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon has assured that the government has enough cash to fund its cash aid programs and response against the coronavirus outbreak.

External Link : https://www.bworldonline.com/bir-customs-miss-q1-collection-goal/