Sections 284 and 285 of the Local Government Code (Republic Act No. 7160) lay the rules on the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) (renamed National Tax Allotment [NTA] since 2022).
First, the NTA is based on the collections of national taxes in the “third fiscal year preceding the current fiscal year”. Thus, for 2023, the NTA would be based on the collections in 2020 (2023 – 3 = 2020). The rationale for this is by 2021, the national government would have already known how much was collected in 2020, and Congress could then use this in 2022 to prepare for the budget for 2023. In 2020, PHP 2,504.40 billion of the total revenue of the national government were derived from tax sources (including customs duties) [1]. This base figure will be the basis for the computation of the NTA. (The national government also has revenue from non-tax sources such as the operations of government-owned and controlled corporations. This income will not be part of the computation for the NTA because Section 6, Article X of the 1987 Philippine Constitution only talked about “national taxes”.)
Second, out of the total tax revenue for the third fiscal year preceding, 40% would be allocated for the NTA. For 2023, that would be PHP 2,504.40 x 40% = PHP 1,001.76 billion. Supposed to be. But it appears that it was only PHP 820.20 billion. [2]
Third, this PHP 820.20 billion will be divided as follows:
- To the 82 provinces, 23% or PHP 188.646 billion
- To the 148 cities, 23% or PHP 188.646 billion
- To the 1,486 municipalities, 34% or PHP 278.868 billion
- To the 42,000+ barangays, 20% or PHP 164.040 billion
The formulas for the distribution for each class of LGUs are slightly different between provinces, cities, and municipalities on one hand, and barangays, on the other.
For provinces, cities, and municipalities, the formula is as follows:
- 25% of the share for the entire class is divided evenly among the members of the class (that is, 25% of the PHP 188.646 billion for the provinces, or PHP 47.1615 billion, will be divided evenly, so each province has an assured PHP 47.1615 billion / 82 provinces = PHP 574.14 million per province)
- 25% of the share for the entire class is proportionally divided among the members based on the land area of the each member in the class (the bigger the province, the bigger its share). The basis is the official and validated master list of land area from the Lands Management Bureau (LMB).
- 50% of the share for the entire class is proportionally divided among the members based on the population of each member in the class (the higher the population, the bigger the share). The basis is the latest census of population by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) duly declared through a presidential proclamation.
For barangays, the formula is simply:
- Each barangay with at least 100 inhabitants gets an assured PHP 80,000.00. (Believe it or not, there are still some barangays in the Philippines with less than 100 residents. The least populous barangay, AFAIK, is Barangay No. 3 in Ormoc City, Leyte, with just 14 residents as per 2020 census. Ormoc City had a local referendum merging most of their smallest barangays, but AFAIK, no national law confirming such act had been passed, thus the computation for the NTA is still based on the fact that these barangays are separate. Barangay No. 3, with just 14 residents per the 2020 census, will only receive a total of PHP 1,544,691.00 as NTA this year.)
- After the assured PHP 80,000.00 is set aside, the balance would be divided as follows:
- 40% of the balance is divided equally among the 42,000+ barangays
- 60% of the balance is divided proportionally among the 42,000+ barangays based on their population (the bigger the population, the bigger the share).
Note that the territorial size of the barangay would not matter.
For more information, you can check the official Department of Budget and Management page explaining the NTA. You can click on the “Report Level” on the left pane to check how much your LGU is receiving.
What happens if a law is passed making a city out of a municipality or dividing a barangay into separate barangays? The NTA is adjusted, see for example Local Budget Memorandum No. 78-A dated December 17, 2019.