BOC April collections likely up by 10%

The amount of import duties and taxes collected by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) likely grew by over a tenth in April, with a higher take from non-oil products compensating for cheaper fuel imports.

Without disclosing details, Customs Commissioner Alberto D. Lina told reporters on Wednesday rthat collections last month rose by “more than 10 percent” year-on-year.

“Collections from non-oil imports led the growth. We cannot bank on oil,” he said, citing declining global oil prices.

The take from duties and taxes slapped on imported motor vehicles, whose domestic sales have been growing strong, are also on the rise, Lina said, citing auto industry estimates that sales could hit 315,000 by yearend.

The double-digit growth rate posted last April was faster than the 7-percent increase registered in the first quarter. March collections reached P87.3 billion—way below the P103.3-billion goal.

In April last year, the BOC collected P30.8 billion.

Lina said collections this month would likely be better than that of April, despite the slower take from oil.

The BOC chief had said that a viable intervention to arrest the slower growth of the agency’s collections to date would jack up the excise tax on petroleum products, which stayed low since the 1990s.

Under the BOC’s adjusted quarterly targets, it should collect P106.9 billion in duties and taxes during the second quarter, almost P112 billion in the third quarter, and P125.5 billion in the fourth quarter, for it to hit the P436.6-billion collections target for the entire year.

Also, Lina said that the BOC would consider implementing a scheme where importers could pay their tax and tariff dues using government securities, such as Treasury bonds.

“The [Bureau of the] Treasury benefits, and the BOC also benefits, because Treasury bonds are as good as cash,” he said of the initiative, which could be formalized soon.