THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has overshot its February 2021 target for tobacco excise tax collections by 4.28 percent, collecting P17.57 billion mid-month after Japan Tobacco International (JTI) Philippines Inc. paid taxes of P10.94 billion, which is more than double the amount it paid in January.
BIR deputy commissioner Arnel Guballa said preliminary data showed that from Feb. 1 to 18, the bureau already collected P721.24 million more than its tobacco excise tax target of P16.85 billion for the month.
The February 2021 collection in tobacco excise taxes is also P9.20 billion or 109.85 percent more than the amount of P8.37 billion collected in the same period in 2020.
“Noticeably, we have a big increase in the collection of tobacco excises because JTI opened its plant in Lima, Batangas. So it’s in full operation; that’s why they increased their production. That’s also why we have quite a collection in tobacco for this month,” said Guballa during a recent Department of Finance executive committee meeting.
The tobacco excise tax collection for Jan. 1 to Feb. 18 amounted to P29.1 billion, Guballa said. It is P12.33 billion or 73.53 percent more than the P16.77 billion collected for the January to February period of the previous year.
Guballa said as of Feb. 18, JTI Philippines overtook Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Co. as the top tobacco excise taxpayer, with JTI’s remittance of P10.94 billion accounting for 62 percent of the total collection of P17.57 billion for the Feb. 1 to 18 period.
JTI Philippines’ February tax payment is 108 percent more than the P5.25 billion it paid in January 2021, Guballa said. (PR)