The Bureau of Customs (BOC) exceeded its target collection of import duties and other taxes for the third straight month in April following Commissioner Isidro S. Lapeña’s warning that he will fire the heads of underperforming ports.
Citing preliminary data from its financial service, the BOC said it collected P47.4 billion last month, 2-percent higher than its P46.5-billion goal.
Its tax take in April also jumped 50.4 percent from P31.5 billion during the same month last year.
“The enhanced revenue collection performance is attributed to the improved and correct valuation and tariff classification being implemented on the ground,” Lapeña said in a statement.
The BOC also “generated higher excise tax [collection] last month due to the effective implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law,” Lapeña added.
Signed by President Duterte in December, Republic Act No. 10963 or the TRAIN law since Jan. 1 this year jacked up or slapped new excise taxes on cigarettes, sugary drinks, oil products and vehicles, among other goods, to compensate for the restructured personal income tax regime that raised the tax-exempt cap to an annual salary of P250,000.
Also, the “volume and value of imports are comparably higher than last year,” the BOC said.
The increase in oil price and the peso-dollar exchange ratio also contributed to the increased April revenue of the BOC, it added.
“I always tell [BOC] officials and employees: We can hit the target every month. We only just have to apply the correct valuation and collect what is due the government. I think we can continue this trend until December,” Lapeña said.
The BOC said 14 ports exceeded their respective targets for April, namely Aparri, Batangas, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Clark, Davao, Iloilo, Limay, Manila, San Fernando, Subic, Surigao, Tacloban and Zamboanga.
On the other hand, the port of Legaspi, the Manila International Container Port as well as the Ninoy Aquino International Airport did not achieve their April targets.
To recall, Lapeña had threatened to remove the heads of the ports that will be unable to hit their monthly collection targets.
As such, the BOC assigned four new district collectors last month to replace underperformers in February, while another five were expected to get the ax for below-target collections in March.
The BOC was tasked to collect P581.3 billion in import duties and other taxes this year. —BEN O. DE VERA