The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs (BOC) have collected a combined PHP2.43-trillion in 2020 despite the economic downturn resulting from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, according to preliminary data from the Department of Finance (DOF).
A report by the DOF’s Revenue Operations Group (ROG) to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III shows last year’s collection of the two agencies was PHP246.39-billion or 11.27% over the PHP2.187-trillion revised target set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) on July 23 last year.
For 2020, the BIR collected PHP1.899-trillion while the BOC reported collections of PHP533.88 billion, Finance Assistant Secretary Dakila Elteen Napao of the ROG said in his report during a recent DOF Executive Committee (Execom) meeting.
Napao said the BIR’s 2020 collection was PHP213.84-billion, or 12.68% in excess of the revised DBCC target of PHP1.685-trillion for the year.
The BOC’s collection, meanwhile, was over PHP32.55-billion, or 6.49% more than the revised DBCC goal of PHP501.33-billion, he added.
The original combined collection target for the two agencies was PHP3.255-trillion for 2020 that was set by the DBCC in December 2019.
The target was then revised in May 2020 and again in July 2020 to reflect the economic realities resulting from the pandemic-driven global growth slump.
In a statement, National Treasurer Rosalia De Leon said a preliminary report based on cash inflows to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) shows that total revenues for 2020 have already reached PHP2.84-trillion, which already includes non-tax revenues such as collections from dividends, fees, privatization efforts, and BTr income.
The preliminary figures on revenues collected by the BIR and BOC are still subject to reconciliation with BTr data.
BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa said in a separate report during the meeting that tentative data show the bureau’s excise tax collections amounted to PHP289.98-billion in 2020, surpassing its target of PHP285.77-billion for the year by PHP4.21-billion or 1.47%.
Collections from “sin” products led the pack, with excise taxes from tobacco products totaling PHP148.45-billion in 2020, followed by alcohol products with PHP75.94-billion, which both exceeded the BIR-set targets by 6.71% and 22.74%, respectively, Guballa said.
The excise tax collection target for tobacco products was PHP139.12-billion and for alcohol products, PHP61.87-billion, last year.
Excise taxes from sweetened beverages of PHP30.56-billion also exceeded the PHP28.54-billion target of the BIR for 2020, the report said.
The BIR’s excise tax collections from minerals, automobiles, and cosmetic procedures were also above target in 2020.
Meanwhile, the BOC collected a total of PHP145.85 billion in duties and taxes from 12.72 billion kilograms (kg) of petroleum products in 2020, preliminary data show.
Including coal and coal products, the total BOC revenues from oil products amounted to PHP171.07-billion.
Taxes and duties from non-oil commodities such as motor vehicles, telecommunications equipment and food products accounted for PHP342.42 billion of the BOC’s total collections for 2020.
