For six months straight, BOC exceeds collection goal

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) surpassed its target collections of import duties and other taxes for the sixth straight month in July, with only two of the country’s 17 ports missing their respective monthly goals.

Citing preliminary data from its financial service, the second biggest revenue agency said it collected P52.05 billion last month, 3.9 percent higher than the P50.07-billion target.

Also, the BOC’s collections in July jumped 48.7 percent from P34.99 billion during the same month last year.

Only the Manila International Container Port (MICP) and the Port of Subic failed to reach their targets.

MICP collected P14.22 billion, below its P15.44-billion goal. Meanwhile, the Subic port’s P1.601-billion actual collection fell short of the P1.802-billion target.

Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña has been firing the heads of underperforming ports since February.

In a statement, the BOC attributed its robust collections to “strong enforcement and revenue enhancement measures, higher exchange rate [and] increased oil prices in the market.”

The weaker peso raises the value of imported goods and, in effect, the amount of import levies slapped against them.

From January to July, the BOC collected a total of P332.5 billion, 1.3 percent bigger than the seven-month goal of P328.2 billion.

The end-July tax take also climbed 35.5 percent from the P245.3 billion in the same period last year.

“We are expecting consistent revenue growth, and I remain confident that we will hit and even exceed our yearend target,” Lapeña said.

The BOC was tasked to collect a total of P581.3 billion this year.