PH tax revenues up 14% to P931.5B in Q1 2025

Digitalization efforts helped boost the government’s tax collection in the first quarter.

MANILA, Philippines – The Marcos administration posted a double-digit tax collection growth in the first quarter on the back of stronger tax administration, which was boosted by the government’s digitalization efforts.

Latest data from the Department of Finance (DOF) showed tax revenues amounted to P931.5 billion in the three months ending in March, up by 14 percent year-on-year.

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Broken down, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), which typically accounts for more than half of total state revenues, collected P690.4 billion in the first quarter. This meant a 16.67-percent growth compared with a year ago.

The BIR is targeting to raise P3.23 trillion in 2025.

The Bureau of Customs (BOC), which generates its revenues from taxes on foreign trade and transactions, saw its receipts climb by 5.72 percent to P231.4 billion during the period.

The BOC is aiming to generate P1.06 trillion this year.

“This was primarily due to both revenue agencies’ continued success in strengthening tax administration, digitalization and enforcement efforts,” the DOF said.

The Marcos administration is eyeing to collect P4.64 trillion in total revenues this year, which would account for 16.2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

READ: Gov’t sets higher BIR, BOC revenue collection target for 2025

In a statement, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said current revenues “are more than sufficient to support our expenditure requirements.”

This, as he sought to “refute” reports saying that the government was eyeing new taxes amid a tight fiscal space.

Those reports zeroed in on the proposed Government Revenues Optimization through Wealth Tax Harmonization bill, which was projected to generate P300 billion in revenues in the next five years to 2030 by raising capital gains taxes.