MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Wednesday said year-to-date collections have already breached P1 trillion, a first for the agency.

"Based on preliminary and unofficial collection figures, the BIR breached the P1 trillion collection mark as of December 17," the agency said in a statement.

"The feat is historic for the men and women of the tax agency," BIR added.

In the 11 months to November, the agency has already collected P969.34 billion, making it P96.66-billion short of its goal to rake in P1.066 trillion in revenues this year.

The BIR last year collected P924.1 billion, falling short of its target of P940 billion.