The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) on Tuesday reported that government revenue agents in the country’s freeport collected more in 2012 than the previous year and had turned over the amount to the national treasury.
SBMA chairperson and administrator Roberto Garcia said that collections of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) reached a total of P7.62 billion in 2012—5.42 percent more than the P7.22 billion collected in 2011.
Garcia said the combined collection of the BIR and the BOC at the Subic Bay freeport had been increasing consistently in recent years. This showed that the business of registered locators had become more profitable through the years.
In 2011, the BIR and BOC improved collections improved by 8.14 percent to P7.22 billion from that of the previous year. Likewise, collections in 2010 improved by 19.25 percent to P6.68 billion from that of 2009.
The BIR collections, Garcia said, included a portion of the five-percent corporate tax levied on the annual gross income of Subic-registered locator companies. The three percent of the five-percent corporate tax that the BIR collected in 2012 reached P205.33 million.
The BIR’s take peaked in April 2012 when it collected P139.43 million. Still, the BIR fell short of its 2012 goal of P1.3 billion by 1.21 percent.
Meanwhile, the Customs unit assigned at the Port of Subic collected P6.33 billion from January to December 2012. It was 3.47 percent higher than the P6.12 billion collected in 2011.
The Customs unit also posted non-cash collections worth P491.22 million from government-to-government transactions, Garcia said.
The SBMA administrator expressed optimism that, this year, more businesses would invest in the Subic Bay freeport, paving the way for more business activities, employment opportunities and tax returns.