8-mo BOC collections up 1.1% but still short of goal

IMPORT duties and other taxes collected by the Bureau of Customs as of the end of August inched up by 1.1 percent year-on-year to P235.6 billion, but were short of the eight-month goal, data from the agency showed.

The BOC’s cash collections in the first eight months reached P230.6 billion, while the tax expenditures fund (TEF), representing the supposed duties on government importation, amounted to almost P5 billion, Customs Commissioner Alberto D. Lina said in a House hearing on Monday.

The BOC’s end-August collection was 13.7 percent off the target of P273.1 billion, even as it slightly exceeded year-ago’s P232.9 billion.

Cash collections as of end-August were 14.6 percent lower than the P269.9-billion goal for the period, while the TEF was 59.7 percent higher than the P3.1-billion target.

Per tax type, end-August collection from import duties jumped by a fifth year-on-year to P34.7 billion. The take from value-added tax or VAT slid by 2.1 percent to P186.9 billion.

The excise tax collections as of end-August rose by 6.6 percent to P10.2 billion, while other taxes hit P3.7 billion, up 5 percent year-on-year.

In the first eight months, foregone revenues were higher than actual collections, at P244.1 billion, the BOC claimed.

Revenues foregone from free trade agreements amounted to P118.8 billion; from Board of Investments-registered enterprises, P1.4 billion; from firms registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and other investment promotion agencies, P119.3 billion; and from the use of tax credit certificates, P4.7 billion, BOC data showed.

Lina had conceded that the BOC, the second-largest tax collection agency, could collect only about P390 billion to P400 billion in import duties and taxes this year, with foregone revenue from cheaper oil seen to hit P75 billion.

The “doable” collections figure for 2015 would be below this year’s target of P436.6 billion.