THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected almost a billion in taxes after temporarily shutting down 207 commercial establishments for violating the tax code.
The bureau’s tax haul under its “Oplan Kandado” program in the first five months of the year reached P995.04 million, BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel SD. Guballa said.
Guballa reported to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III in a recent Department of Finance executive committee meeting that the BIR padlocked 36 establishments in May alone and collected P37.3 million in back taxes.
The BIR official also said they filed 26 complaints for preliminary investigation before the Department of Justice (DOJ) involving P702.73 million in estimated tax liabilities.
Apart from this, the BIR also filed eight cases before the Court of Appeals involving P1.04 billion in estimated tax deficiencies in May this year.
In 2020, the BIR’s “Oplan Kandado” program led to the closure of 209 establishments and the collection of P607.87 million in taxes.
Under the “Oplan Kandado” program, business operations of non-compliant taxpayers will be suspended and their establishments will be temporarily closed if they are found to have violated certain tax laws.
Grounds for suspension or temporary closure of business under the program include failure to issue receipts or invoices by a value-added tax registered or “registrable” taxpayer, failure to file a VAT return, understatement of taxable sales or receipts by 30 percent or more of the correct amount thereof in the case of a VAT-registered or registrable taxpayer; or failure to register, according to Revenue Memorandum Order 3-2009.
For this year, BIR is tasked to collect a total of P2.081 trillion, up by 23.4 percent from P1.686 trillion downscaled target last year.
As of end-May this year, it has collected P874.5 billion, equivalent to 42.03 percent of its full-year collection target.