Tax compliance drive seen lifting revenues
THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is optimistic about revenue collections this year amid intensified efforts to improve tax compliance and expand enforcement, its top official said.“If our taxpayers are compliant and registered, then they will be part of the tax base and we will capture their sales,” BIR Commissioner Charlito Martin Mendoza told reporters on Monday, adding that this would “translate to higher revenues for the government.”He said the year was off to a good start as the BIR collected roughly P358 billion as of end-January, higher than the P355.1 billion recorded a year earlier.Mendoza did not provide an estimate of how much additional revenues could be raised from the tax compliance campaign, but stressed that “the important thing is that the process should be correct.”“Not only the revenues that will be collected, but also our negotiators should be compliant,” he said.The BIR chief claimed that they were making tax compliance “easier for honest taxpayers and harder for violators — combining service excellence, digital coordination, and accountable enforcement to protect every peso of revenue for the Filipino people.”He added that the campaign was part of continuing engagement with taxpayers and ongoing taxpayer education efforts, noting that many had failed to comply simply because they lacked the proper guidance and did not clearly understand the BIR’s regulations.“Even though many of the transactions in the BIR are online, we see the value of occasional face-to-face interaction with our taxpayers,” Mendoza said.The BIR collected a total of P3.105 trillion last year, which he said exceeded the P3.101-trillion emerging collection target — an operational aim separate from the official goal of P3.232 trillion.The result — still an improvement from 2024’s P2.83 trillion — was blamed on the suspension of audit operations late last year in the wake of extortion allegations.The bureau has been tasked to collect P3.579 trillion this year and Mendoza said that anticipated economic growth would boost revenues from income, value-added and excise taxes.Digitalization and monitoring initiatives to prevent leakages are also expected to help boost revenues.“Hopefully, this year, the infrastructure projects of the government will accelerate and that will help to increase the revenue that BIR collects,” Mendoza added.NIÑA MYKA PAULINE ARCEO
2026-02-23 16:17:00