Customs exceeds collection target in Q1

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) exceeded by more than a tenth its first-quarter target collection of import duties and other taxes as the total take from January to March reached P155.3 billion.

The latest BOC data showed that the combined collections of the country’s 17 ports during the first three months surpassed by 11.7 percent the P143.6-billion goal for the period.

End-March collections were also up 25.5 percent from the P129.8 billion collected in the same three-month period last year.

Last January, the P54.2-billion actual collection was 16.4-percent higher than the P46.6-billion target. In February, collections worth P49.3 billion were 8.4-percent bigger than the P45.5-billion goal.

Last month, the BOC collected P51.8 billion, 0.6-percent more than the P51.5-billion program.

Despite the above-target tax take so far, Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero last February warned district and sub-port collectors that the “one-strike policy” implemented by his predecessor Isidro S. Lapeña would be back.

The BOC under Lapeña surpassed monthly revenue targets from February to September last year as the former commissioner had fired district collectors whose ports’ revenues were below their respective goals for the month.

“The existing one-strike policy has been relaxed to give you the chance to manage your strategies and re-evaluate your policy directions and operational processes,” Guerrero said.

However, “in the event that you will continue to fail meeting either your monthly or quarterly targets, the one-strike policy will be strictly implemented,” the BOC chief said.

Also, Guerrero earlier ordered ports to closely monitor importation values, ensure correct valuation of goods, impose the appropriate excise taxes on excisable articles under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act, and validate free trade agreement forms to ensure that these were not being used to defraud the country’s second-largest revenue agency amid already low, if not zero, duty rates.

For 2019, the BOC had been tasked to collect P677 billion.

The country’s biggest tax collector, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, continues to struggle in meeting its targets.