BOC collection hit P 58.2B in July

Bureau of Customs. (File photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) again overshot its collection goal in July as the majority of the country’s ports posted above-target tax take at the start of the second half.

In a statement on Monday, the BOC said the import duties and other taxes it collected last month amounted to P58.18 billion, 8.2-percent bigger than its P53.75-billion program.

July collections climbed from a year ago’s P49.8 billion, which declined 8.8-percent year-on-year amid the Philippines’ worst post-war recession in 2020.

The BOC mainly attributed its above-goal performance last month to the 14 out of its 17 collection districts, which overperformed. Citing a preliminary report of its financial service, the BOC said these 14 ports included the Port of Manila, Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), Aparri, Batangas, Cagayan de Oro, Clark, Davao, Legazpi, Limay, San Fernando, Subic, Surigao, Tacloban and Zamboanga.

At the end of the first seven months, the BOC’s take totaled P359.93 billion, 4.2-percent higher than its P345.58-billion target.

It was a reversal of the 15.3-percent slide in the BOC’s end-July collections to P302.9 billion last year.

“The [BOC] continues to prove the intensified collective efforts of all ports this year, not to mention, the improvement of volume of importation while maintaining border security and trade facilitation,” it said.

Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero had told the Inquirer that the BOC’s P616.7-billion target for 2021 was “attainable.”

Separately, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III told reporters that the ongoing fuel marking covered 27.27 billion liters of oil products as of July 23.

The fuel marking program which started in September 2019 already ensured collection of a total of P264.52 billion in correct import duties and excise taxes.

In the case of the BOC, the duties it collected from tax-paid imported oil amounted to P234.74 billion to date.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), meanwhile, contributed P29.78-billion worth of excise taxes.

During the BIR’s 117th anniversary celebration on Monday, Dominguez urged the country’s biggest tax-collection agency to “not just meet, but exceed its collection targets this year and beyond.”

During the first half, the BIR’s tax take reached P1.03 trillion, surpassing the P1.02-trillion goal by 1.4 percent.

Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar Dulay last month expressed confidence that the full-year target of P2.08 trillion will be achieved.