Finance Secretary Carlos Domiguez III
MANILA – Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has assured senators that government revenues from income tax remains safe despite the postponement of collections due to the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
“What we really lost is the VAT (value added tax) collections, excise tax collections between mid-March (and) probably until end-May. That is the big loss,” he told lawmakers during an online hearing Tuesday.
Data released by the Department of Finance (DOF) on Tuesday showed preliminary figures show that BIR revenues from January 1 to April 30 this year reached PHP527.41 billion, 25.4 percent or PHP179.37 billion lower in the same period last year.
This collection is lower by PHP1.02 billion or 0.19 percent against the agency’s PHP528.44-billion target for the four-month period.
For April alone, the agency’s collection amounted to PHP71.78 billion, lower than the PHP237.93 billion in the same period last year.
Collections by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) during the same period fell 7.29 percent year-on-year to PHP179.44 billion from last year’s PHP193.55 billion.
This amount is PHP27.15 billion or 13.14 percent short against the Bureau’s PHP206.59-billion target for January to April this year.
Its April 2020 revenues reached PHP33.97 billion, 34.27 percent lower than last year’s PHP51.67 billion.
Total collections of these major revenue collecting agencies to date reached PHP706.85 billion, lower than the PHP735.03-billion program and the PHP900.33-billion collections during the same period last year. (PNA)
