Customs goes after erring rice importers

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is going after at least 48 cooperatives that did not pay up to P2.4 billion in taxes for their rice imports this year and in 2019, the Department of Finance (DOF) said on Friday.

In a statement, the DOF quoted Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero as saying that a post-clearance audit on cooperatives that imported rice in 2019 yielded P1.4 billion in tax deficiencies.

Guerrero recently reported to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III that more than 320 cooperatives imported the Filipino staple food last year.

The 48 erring cooperatives uncovered by the BOC belonged to the top 60 rice importers, Guerrero told Dominguez.

“They have been issued audit notices and subsequent demand letters for the payment of additional duties and taxes as a result of the underdeclaration of their imports,” Guerrero said, referring to the unscrupulous cooperatives.

However, “several of the importers with tax deficiencies are contesting the demand letters, which has slowed down the [BOC’s] efforts to collect the additional duties and taxes from them,” Guerrero said.

Guerrero disclosed that a post-clearance audit of the top 60 importers this year would likely yield another P1 billion in unpaid taxes due to undervaluation.

Dominguez earlier tasked Guerrero and Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar Dulay to help the Department of Agriculture in its ongoing probe of the alleged collusion between private rice importers and cooperatives that act as dummies to avoid paying rice tariff.

“While cooperatives are not exempted from paying duties for importing rice, they can be exempted from paying the income tax on these imports if they are registered with the BIR as tax-exempt entities,” Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko explained last month. —Ben O. de Vera