COLLECTIONS of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) surged in January on the back of tax reform, the agency’s chief said noting that additional duties imposed on sweetened drinks provided the biggest lift.

BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay said preliminary data showed that the agency’s collections jumped last month by 15% year on year.

The agency collected P147.39 billion in January 2017. A 15% increase would bring the month’s tally to around P169.5 billion.

Although declining to give a ballpark figure, Mr. Dulay told reporters that new taxes imposed on sugar-sweetened beverages shored up collection by P1.4 billion in just 18 days.

“I can tell you that the new tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, (we collected) P2 billion in less than a month… That’s a new addition because in 2017, wala pa ‘yan (we didn’t have that boost),” Mr. Dulay told reporters on the sidelines of the BIR’s 2018 Tax Campaign Kick-off last Friday.

The Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law imposed additional excise taxes on sugary drinks, with the higher prices aimed at discouraging Filipinos from consuming soft drinks and similar unhealthy treats.

The new law, which took effect on Jan. 1, imposed an excise rate of P6 per liter on drinks containing caloric or non-caloric sweetener and P12 per liter on drinks containing high-fructose corn syrup. Instant coffee mixes and milk are exempted from these taxes.

Signed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte as Republic Act No. 10963, the TRAIN removed some exemptions to value-added tax as it increased tax rates for fuel, automobiles, tobacco, coal, minerals, documentary stamps, foreign currency deposit units, capital gains for stocks not on the stock exchange, and stock transactions. It also introduced a new tax covering cosmetic procedures.

These are expected to more than offset lower rates for personal income taxes for those earning below P2 million, alongside a simpler system for computing donor and estate taxes.

The BIR is targeting to collect P2.039 trillion in taxes this 2018, which is 11.48% more than the P1.829 trillion goal it initially set early last year. If realized, this would also be 14.6% higher than the P1.779 trillion collected in 2017.

Mr. Dulay had said in January that the TRAIN is expected to contribute an additional P15.893 billion in tax revenues to the BIR this year.

During Friday’s tax campaign launch, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the BIR’s efforts would receive a boost from the TRAIN law.

“While we expect some revenue losses from reducing the individual income tax rate and by raising exemption levels, we should be able to offset these losses with a whole new range of excise taxes. This should be easier for the BIR to calculate the excise taxes and collect them more efficiently,” Mr. Dominguez said in his speech. — Melissa Luz T. Lopez

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