BIR confident it surpassed P2.85-T 2024 collection target
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said it might have surpassed its collection goal for the first time in 20 years in 2024 even as economic growth had shown signs of a slowdown, supporting the Marcos administration’s bid to cut the country’s budget deficit.
In a statement on Tuesday, the BIR, citing emerging figures, said it collected “at least” P2.85 trillion in 2024, which matched the revenue target of the agency for last year.
The exact full-year revenue figure is still being finalized and will be released in mid-February.
Already, the BIR said the official collection number that will come out next month will “increase past” the goal that economic officials had set in 2024.
With the exception of 2020 when the bureau’s target was significantly lowered due to a pandemic-induced recession, the BIR said this was the first time in 20 years that the agency was able to beat its target receipts.
“My hope and prayer is that all the stakeholders continue to support the reforms that we have put into place, so that we can continue to surpass our targets in the coming years,” BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. said.
Last month, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said he had expected BIR collections to hit P2.86 trillion in 2024. This, despite the slower-than-expected economic growth in the third quarter that might have weighed on state revenues.
But Recto said the BIR, which typically accounts for 80 percent of state revenues, would have posted a bigger haul of P3.50 trillion last year had all of the proposed tax measures of the Marcos administration been passed.
Among the priority measures of the Department of Finance (DoF) are the Value-added Tax (VAT) on Digital Service Providers (DSP); the Imposition of Excise Tax on Single-use Plastics (SUPs); Package 4 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP); the Rationalization of the Mining Fiscal Regime; and the Reform on the Motor Vehicle Users’ Charge (MVUC).
But among those pieces of legislation, only the VAT on DSP made it out of the legislative mill last year and was signed into law.
Latest data showed the BIR generated P247.6 billion in revenues in November, up by 12.7 percent. This pushed up the bureau’s 11-month collections to P2.7 trillion.
