GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 19 Feb) — The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in Region 12 has stepped up its tax campaign as it moves to meet its revenue target of around P11.88 billion this year.
Esmeralda Tabule, BIR Revenue Region (RR)-18 regional director, said Monday their collection target increased by around P2 billion based on their revenue goal and actual collection in 2017 that reached P9.69 billion.
She said their total collection last year was up by 15.32 percent or nearly P1.3 billion when compared to the P8.4 billion generated in 2016.
The BIR revenue district office here posted the highest collection in 2017 with P2.7 billion, followed by Koronadal City with P2.3 billion.
“We have set a series of awareness and enforcement campaigns throughout the region to enhance our collection efforts and eventually achieve or even surpass our revenue goal for 2018,” Tabule said.
She said these includes the prompt and proper payment of income and related taxes, issuance of receipts by all registered businesses and tax compliance verification.
The official said they will also intensify the crackdown against tax evaders and the enforcement of the “Oplan Kandado” or closure of erring businesses.
On Monday, BIR-RR18 launched its 2018 tax campaign by thanking local taxpayers for their sacrifices and contributions to the government’s coffers.
Dubbed “Salamat Sa ’Yo,” the campaign mainly recognizes the challenges faced by taxpayers, especially the small business owners and compensation earners, in fulfilling their obligations to the government.
In line with this, the agency also launched the “Oplan AIR” or “Ako Issue Resibo” drive to ensure that businesses would properly declare and settle their tax dues.
Tabule said all businesses are mandated to issue receipts for every sales transaction “no matter how small or big the amount is.”
“They (businesses) are obliged to issue a receipt even if their customers have not asked for them,” she stressed.
Tabule expressed confidence of meeting their revenue goal this year despite the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion or Train law.
The law provides for the exemption from taxes of workers earning P250,000 in annual income.
“We already anticipated a significant drop in our collections for withholding tax but these will be compensated by the new excise taxes,” she said, referring to the excise tax on fuel as well as drinks with caloric and non-caloric sweeteners.
She said they were also encouraged by their collection record for January that reached around P880 million or P115.2 more than their revenue goal for the month.
The Koronadal City revenue district office topped the collections for the month with P281 million, followed by this city with P223 million.
Region 12 comprises the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, and North Cotabato, and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Cotabato. (MindaNews)
