Manila, April 15 -- Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Romeo Lumagui on Tuesday expressed confidence that the agency would reach its PHP3.23-trillion collection target this year amid the strengthened drive to encourage taxpayers to pay their dues.

Citing preliminary figures for the first quarter of the year, Lumagui said revenues as of end-March reached PHP668.79 billion, or PHP3.2 million short of the PHP671.99-billion goal for the quarter.

Collections in the first three months of this year are higher than the PHP593-billion revenue from a year ago.

"For 2025, our target is PHP3.23 trillion. And we think that, again, based on the progress of our programs that we have already laid out, and also based on the progress of the f...