BIR Region – 1 Exceeds Collection by P1.5B

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO – The regional office of the Bureau of Internal Revenue exceeded its collection first semester of this year by P1.5 billion compared to its collection the same period in 2018.

Regional Director Thelma S. Milabao said that in January to June 2019 her office collected P6.7 billion while in the same period last year it gathered P6.1 billion or a surplus of P1.5 billion.

Region- 1 covers four provinces and nine cities in the Northern part of Luzon.

She cited the positive collection ensued when President Rodrigo Duterte veto freed the provision in the General Tax Amnesty Law allowing a one-time declaration and settlement of estate taxes on properties that are in the name of persons who died or donors whose estates remain unsettled. 

The Amnesty Law is part of the Train Law II, according to the BIR official here.

Several of the provisions of the Amnesty Law were vetoed by President Duterte.

The official, who asked for anonymity, said the regional office still determines if the amnesty for one-time declaration and settlement of Estate Taxes were the reason that spiked the first semester collection here.

“We suspected that these taxpayers were motivated to come to the BIR offices because the government did not ask them to pay the penalties and the surcharges of the Estate Tax from 2017 and its backward years”. 

A reporter interviews BIR Region - 1 Director Thelma S. Milabao.

The regional director was optimistic she can collect the P14, 449, 604, 000 goal because the central office in Quezon City reduced the earlier goal of P19 billion this year.

The supposed implementation of the Amnesty Law and the Train Law II became the reason why the tax goal here became P19 billion.

“Hopefully maka goal kami,” Director Milabao cited when asked if at the end of the fiscal year 2019 her office can collect the target given to her.

Meanwhile, the Revenue District Office - 6 in eastern Pangasinan has all the odds stuck against it.

“Because of the TPLEX where our office collected bigger Capital Gain Taxes and other taxes, the central office based that collection last year to spike its goal for this year," an official of the RDO-6, who asked not to be named said.

TPLEX is Tarlac - Pangasinan -  La Union Express Way where farm land owners sold their lots to the TPLEX through government's power of eminent domain.

“That transactions were One-Time Transaction (ONETT) and were not replicated this year, “the official there said.

The RDO-6 had almost P2.1 billion goal last year and P1,836, 602 this year.

Its actual collection last year was P1,563, 611,939.77.

The office covered Urdaneta City and eight towns around it.

RDO-6 is under RDO Chief Cecilia C. Campos and Assistant RDO Chief Lolita A. Salayog.

The tax goals of other RDOs in Region – 1 for this year are:

RDO-1 in Laoag City but covers entire Ilocos Norte, P1,762,267; RDO- 2 in Vigan City but covers Ilocos Sur, P2, 119, 762; RDO-3 San Fernando City but covers La Union P2,985, 306; RDO-4 Calasiao but covers Central Pangasinan, P4, 394, 782; and RDO-5 Alaminos City but covers Western Pangasinan, P1,350,885. 

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