MANILA -- The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is counting on several tax measures to be passed this year by Congress to help meet its P3.2 trillion collection target.

"We're optimistic about attaining, again, the collection target for 2025," said Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr.

"There are a lot of things in place, like the new laws that would be passed, and I hope that they will be passed on time so that it will help us a lot in attaining our collection target," he said.

"Also, some of the improvements that we've been doing that in our in the pipeline have yet to be finished. So once we're able to do all of these, the efficiency of the Bureau will definitely improve, and that will help us a lot," he added.

But even without these, the agency can still collect more revenues to help fund government programs, Lumagui said on ANC's "Market Edge."

"We are doing a lot of improvements in BIR, that's why we're still confident that we will be able to achieve high collections for 2025, especially since we're also focused on the shift from the traditional to online transactions," he said.

"And there's also that (value-added tax) on (digital service providers) that has already been passed and will be fully implemented this year as well. So we're expecting a lot more revenues to come in for this year," he said.

--ANC, 17 January 2025