The combined collections of the Bureaus of Internal Revenue (BIR) and of Customs (BOC) in the first five months of 2020 plunged to P874.91 billion, which is P289.06 billion or 24.83 percent short of what was collected in the same period last year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic’s economic fallout.

Collections of the BIR and BOC from January to May last year amounted to P1.164 trillion.

The combined BIR-BOC target for January to May 2020 was P1.062 trillion, but preliminary data show both agencies failed to reach the collection goal by P187.5 billion, representing a shortfall of 17.65 percent.

Such data submitted to the Department of Finance (DOF) also show that actual BIR collections from January 1 to May 31 only reached P664.74 billion, which is P247.53 billion or 27.13 percent lower than the P912.26 billion collected for the same period in 2019.

The BIR’s January-May 2020 collection is 21.7 percent or P184.17 billion short of the P848.91 billion target for that period.

BOC collections, meanwhile, amounted to P210.18 billion from January 1 to May 31, which is P41.54 billion or 16.5 percent lower than the P251.71 billion collected in the same period last year, and P3.33 billion or 1.56 percent short of the target of P213.51 billion.

From May 1-31, the combined revenue haul of the BIR and BOC of P135.45 billion was only slightly over half of the P263.64 billion collected for the same period in 2019.

The May collection of both bureaus is short by P218.35 billion or 61.72 percent compared to the P353.8 billion combined BIR-BOC target for that month.

The BIR collected only P105.44 billion in May, or P100.04 billion (48.68 percent) lower than the P205.47-billion take for the same month in 2019 and P215.03 billion (67.1 percent) short of the P320.47 billion target.

The customs bureau collected P30.01 billion in May, which is lower by P28.16 billion or 48.41 percent compared to the P58.17 billion collected for the same period in 2019.

BOC’s May collection is P3.32 billion or 9.96 percent short of the May 2020 target of P33.33 billion.

With several top taxpayers heeding the government’s earlier call to file their income tax returns ahead of the deferred payment deadlines set by the BIR, the bureau’s Large Taxpayers Service (LTS) collected P189.46 billion in income taxes from January 1 to May 31.

The amount, however, is P87.93 billion or 31.7 percent lower than the LTS collection during the same period in 2019.

It is also P67.86 billion or 26.37 percent below the target of P257.32 billion for that period.

As a result, in the first five months of 2020, total income tax collections amounted to P341.58 billion, or P146.85 billion (30 percent) lower than the P488.43 billion collected in the same period last year.

The January-May 2020 income tax collection is P98.26 billion or 22.34 percent short of the target of P439.84 billion,

LTS collections from May 1-31 reached only P41.1 billion, or only half of the P81.32 billion collected during the same month in 2019, and P98.48 billion or 71 percent short of the P139.58 billion target for May 2020.

The total income tax collection from large taxpayers was P60.38 billion for May, which is less than half of the P123.97 billion collected for the same month last year.

It is also P172.29 billion or 74 percent lower than the May 2020 target of P232.68 billion.

Value-added tax (VAT) collections of the BIR from large taxpayers amounted to P88.1 billion for the first five months of 2020, which is P15.82 billion or 15.22 percent short of the P103.92 billion collected during the same period last year.

But the VAT collection from large taxpayers of P88.1 billion is P3.7 billion or 4.38 percent higher than the downscaled P84.4 billion target for that period.

For May, the BIR collected P12.47 billion in VAT from large taxpayers. This amount represents an P8.53-billion or 41-percent shortfall compared to the P21 billion collected during the same month last year.

The May VAT collection of the LTS is also P6.71 billion or 35 percent lower than its P19.17-billion target for the month.

Total VAT collections from January 1 to May 31 reached P125.52 billion, which is P33.7 billion or 21.17 percent short of the P159.22 billion collected for the same period in 2019.

From May 1-31, VAT collections amounted to P15.43 billion or less than half of the P32.38 billion collected in May 2019.

The deadline for the filing of the annual Income Tax Returns (ITRs)–originally set every April 15 of the year–was extended this year by the BIR to June 15, 2020 to provide taxpayers enough time to prepare and file their ITRs following lockdowns put in place nationwide since March to contain the spread of COVID-19.

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