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Hacienda reports stronger-than-projected collections, faster tax‑refund processing in current filing season
Summary
Treasury officials told the House Finance Commission tax filings and refunds are running ahead of last year and collections exceed Board projections; digital systems and audits are cited as drivers.
Hacienda told the House Finance Commission that preliminary FY2025 collections have outpaced the Board of Supervisory Fiscal projections and that tax‑filing activity and refunds are progressing faster than last year.
Secretary Ángel Pantoja reported that, through the close of February, accumulated General Fund receipts for the fiscal year total about $9,346 million, roughly $276 million above the Board’s projection for the same period. Pantoja said the department expected the trend to continue through the filing season.
On filing activity, the department told the commission 822,586 returns had been filed as of the hearing date, an increase of about 36,727 returns from the same point last year. Pantoja said the Tax Department had issued roughly 675,883 refunds to date (versus about 612,000 at the same time last year), amounting to about $1,422 million in refund payments.
Pantoja described refund processing times for correctly filed returns without issues at roughly five to seven days from filing to payment. He credited digital modernization—including the SURI platform—for improving capture and compliance, and he said collection rates for some taxes have risen substantially since 2016. Hacienda estimated capture rates increased from the high‑50s percentage range in 2016 to about 78–79 percent by 2022.
The department confirmed the planned rollout of a mechanism to administer the one‑percent municipal share of the sales and use tax (IVU municipal 1%) through SURI by July, and said a pilot for municipal patent administration through SURI is running with four volunteer municipalities.
Why it matters: stronger collections improve near‑term liquidity and reduce pressure on deficit financing; faster refund processing affects households that rely on tax credits such as the Earned Income/Work Tax Credit (crédito por trabajo).
Pantoja and OGP officials also reiterated that the administration’s FY2026 revenue target is $13,258 million for the General Fund, the figure used to shape agency ceilings.
Ending: The department committed to provide the commission more detailed breakdowns on tax‑expenditure drivers, capture‑rate updates and specific lists of payroll increases that had been previously funded with non‑recurring federal dollars.
