The Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs have collected a combined P2.43 trillion in 2020 despite the economic downturn resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, preliminary data from the Department of Finance showed.
A report by the DOF’s Revenue Operations Group to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III showed that last year’s collection of the two agencies was P246.39 billion or 11.27 percent over the P2.187-trillion revised target set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee.
For 2020, the BIR collected P1.899 trillion while the BOC reported collections of P533.88 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 P213.84 billion, or 12.68 percent in excess of the revised DBCC target of P1.685 trillion for the year
The BOC’s collection, meanwhile, was over P32.55 billion, or 6.49 percent more than the revised DBCC goal of P501.33 billion, he added.
The original combined collection target for the two agencies was P3.255 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 shows that total revenues for 2020 have already reached P2.84 trillion, including 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 showed that the bureau’s excise tax collections amounted to P289.98 billion in 2020, surpassing its target of P285.77 billion for the year by P4.21 billion, or 1.47 percent.
Collections from “sin” products led the pack, with excise taxes from tobacco products totaling P148.45 billion in 2020, followed by alcohol products with P75.94 billion, which both exceeded the BIR-set targets by 6.71 percent and 22.74 percent, respectively, Guballa said.
The excise tax collection target for tobacco products was P139.12 billion, and P61.87 billion for alcohol products.
Excise taxes from sweetened beverages of P30.56 billion also exceeded the P28.54-billion target of the BIR for 2020, the report said.*PR
