Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said Monday he expects a “very bad” tax collection performance this month amid the implementation of enhanced community quarantine in Luzon that was extended until April 30.
“[We] will issue soon the preliminary figures up to 4/15 [April 15]. As you can imagine, they will be very bad,” Dominguez said in a message to reporters.
Data showed that actual collections by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs declined by P10.17 billion in the first quarter to P600.86 billion from a year ago because of the Luzon lockdown which paralyzed businesses.
The Finance Department also extended the deadlines for tax amnesty and filing of income tax returns until April 30.
It issued Revenue Regulations No. 10-2020, further extending filing deadlines to submit or file necessary documents and/or pay taxes required under the Tax Code of 1997, as amended, following President Rodrigo Duterte’s extension of the ECQ period in Luzon.
The new regulations amended Section 2 of RR No. 7-2020, which was issued earlier to implement the provision in Republic Act No. 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act extending various tax return deadlines that fell due during the original ECQ period.
RR 10-2020 also extends the filing, submission and payment of various forms and requirements into May and June 2020. For example, the filing and payment of annual income tax returns was pushed down to May 30 from the earlier extended deadline of May 15.
The deadline for taxpayers to avail of the tax amnesty on delinquencies under RA 11213 and implemented by RR 4-2019, as amended, was moved from April 23 to June 8.
“This gives taxpayers ample time to settle their tax delinquencies while allowing the Bureau of Internal Revenue to increase its collection from the tax amnesty program,” the DOF said.
The regulations also adjusted due dates for the filing of position papers to notice of informal conference, memoranda and other correspondences with due dates to file during the ECQ, by giving taxpayers another 30 days from the final date of the lifting of the ECQ to submit them to concerned BIR offices.