The Bureau of Internal Revenue-Revenue Region No. 19 (BIR-Davao Region) has reported that its tax collections grew by 2.69 percent in 2025, surpassing its annual target.

BIR regional director Narciso Laguerta said the agency collected PHP27.4 billion last year, exceeding the PHP26.6-billion target by PHP717.6 million.

“Despite unforeseen circumstances, national events, and disasters, we still managed to reach our goal,” Laguerta told the Philippine News Agency in an interview on Monday.

He said the Davao Region ranked third among the country’s 22 regions for excess collections in the first semester of 2025.

By the third quarter, the region placed sixth nationwide.

Laguerta said the 2026 collection target will be set by the BIR national office, with the statistics division currently calculating the figure. Among the drivers of growth were tax payments from the trading sector.

“They have complied and paid their taxes promptly,” he said.

To strengthen taxpayer support, BIR-Davao Region launched CHAT (Counsel, Help, Assist Taxpayers) Day on Monday.

The initiative promotes voluntary compliance through education and friendly verification, guiding taxpayers on record-keeping and invoicing requirements, while compliance reviews are conducted in a non-adversarial manner.

“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 said. (PNA)