MANILA, Feb. 8 -- The Bureau of Internal Revenue's (BIR) tax collections went up by 8 percent last year.

BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr., at the sidelines of the National Tax Campaign Kick-off held at the Philippine International Convention Center on Thursday, said collections last year amounted to around PHP2.53 trillion, higher than the 2022 collection of PHP2.34 trillion.

The amount however fell short of the PHP2.64 trillion collection target of the BIR for 2023.

Lumagui said this was due to the changes in the value-added tax (VAT) compliance.

"Malaki laki yan kasi previously in 2022 monthly yung VAT payment. So isang quarter na VAT yung hindi pumasok for 2023. (That's big because before, VAT payment was monthly. So one quarter ...