The excise collection from petroleum products, including liquefied petroleum gas, surprises government planners as revenue receipts prove higher than target the past nine months this year. al padilla @tribunephl_al

The revenue collection from the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion or TRAIN exceeded the target as of end-September this year.

This was learned from the Department of Finance (DoF) who said the combined collection of the Bureaus of Internal Revenue (BIR) and of Customs (BoC) for the January-September period proved higher than anticipated.

“Both the BIR and the BoC outperformed the government’s estimated collection from TRAIN, as BIR’s tax haul exceeded estimates by P9.4 billion while the BoC exceeded estimates by P4.7 billion,” the DoF said.

Finance Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said the actual collection from TRAIN in the first three quarters totaled P91.3 billion, surpassing the projected collection of only P77.3 billion by 18.2 percent.

“This means we are now closer to completing the 2019 estimates, compared to where we were last year when we were trying to reach the 2018 estimates,” Chua said.

“This is definitely welcome news, especially for the infrastructure and human development objectives of TRAIN,” he added.

According to him, major gains during the nine-month period include the savings from personal income tax (PIT) and excise taxes from imported petroleum, sweetened beverages and the tobacco and documentary stamp.

“As you know, one of the most significant provisions of TRAIN was the lowering of the PIT. Losses from its adjustment were originally estimated at P96.4 billion, but actual losses were lower at P79.2 billion, or a savings of P17.2 billion,” Chua said.

“This was a result of better compliance, higher employment rate resulting in an increase of registered taxpayers and lower unemployment and underemployment rates,” he added.

Also, Chua attributed the overperformance of imported petroleum tax collection to the higher-than-programmed volume of imported finished petroleum products. Collections from such reached P64.5 billion, more than twice of the registered P31.2 billion in the same period year-ago.

Excise taxes for sugary beverages, tobacco and documentary stamp tax surpassed estimates by P1.9 billion, P4.4 billion, P4.7 billion, respectively.

Shortfalls were reported on the excise tax collection of locally refined petroleum products by P11.3 billion and automobiles of another P13.9 billion.