Davao city: The Bureau of Internal Revenue-Revenue Region No. 19 (BIR-Davao Region) has announced a 2.69 percent increase in its tax collections for 2025, surpassing its annual target significantly. BIR regional director Narciso Laguerta reported that the agency collected PHP27.4 billion, exceeding the PHP26.6-billion target by PHP717.6 million.
According to Philippines News Agency, despite facing unforeseen circumstances, national events, and disasters, the Davao Region managed to achieve its tax collection goals. The region ranked third among the country's 22 regions for excess collections in the first semester of 2025 and placed sixth nationwide by the third quarter.
Laguerta mentioned that the BIR national office will set the 2026 collection target, with the statistics division currently working on the calculations. One of the main contributors to the growth was tax payments from the trading sector, which complied with and paid their taxes promptly.
In a bid to strengthen taxpayer support, BIR-Davao Region launched CHAT (Counsel, Help, Assist Taxpayers) Day. This initiative aims to promote voluntary compliance through education and friendly verification, offering guidance on record-keeping and invoicing requirements. Compliance reviews are conducted in a non-adversarial manner to encourage cooperation among taxpayers.
"We call this a friendly tax compliance verification drive. We will simply review compliance and conduct interviews with taxpayers. We hope for their cooperation," Laguerta stated.
