The Revenue Department announced today that the City of Philadelphia has received $5.7 million dollars in collections for the first month of the Philadelphia Beverage Tax, more than doubling the City’s predictions for January.
Revenue officials stressed that this is a preliminary figure and is likely to increase, because not all payments received to date have been fully processed. The projection for a full fiscal year of the Philly Bev Tax is more than $91 million.
The Revenue Department has launched a comprehensive monitoring campaign to ensure compliance with the tax. The effort includes visits by Revenue field investigators and auditors to dealer and distributor locations, to review invoices and customer lists to ensure compliance, as well as to conduct traditional tax audits. In addition to training all investigators and auditors already on staff to enforce the Philadelphia Beverage Tax, the Department is expanding its compliance capacity with eight new hires focused on collections and enforcement.
“This monitoring protocol isn’t about punishing businesses,” said Revenue Commissioner Frank Breslin. “It’s about helping make sure everyone is doing what they are required to do so everyone can avoid penalties and, ultimately, so we can fuel bigger and better things for the people of Philadelphia.”