P91.7B: Taxes from marked fuel since September 2019

The government generated P91.7 billion in import duties and excise from oil products since September 2019, thanks to the fuel marking program which ensured collection of correct levies.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III on Monday (Aug. 3) said these taxes were collected from 10.7 billion liters of fuel products injected with chemical markers as of end-July 2020.

Twenty oil firms were participating in ongoing fuel marking, with the biggest volumes of tax-paid products coming from Petron (2.5 billion liters or 23.6 percent of total), Shell (2.2 billion liters or 20.2 percent of total) and Unioil (1.1 billion liters or 10.7 percent of total).

The 17 other companies were Chevron, Seaoil, Phoenix, Insular Oil, Total/Filoil, Jetti, PTT, Filoil, Marubeni, Micro Dragon, Warbucks, High Glory Subic, Goldenshare, Era1, SL Harbor, SL Gas, and Jadelink.

In terms of fuel type, 6.6 billion liters were diesel; gasoline, 4 billion liters; and kerosene, 52.6 million liters.

Three-fourths of the marked fuel to date were in Luzon, 5 percent in the Visayas, and 20 percent in Mindanao.

Even during strict COVID-19 quarantine, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) continued fuel marking as it had been exempted from the restrictions on movement of non-essential goods and people.

The BOC marked oil in depots, tank trucks, vessels, warehouses and fuel-transporting vehicles, while the BIR tested in refineries and their attached depots, gasoline stations and retail outlets.

The country’s two largest tax-collection agencies have been given powers during field testing so they can not only seize adulterated, diluted or unmarked petroleum but also arrest unscrupulous traders.

The joint venture of SGS Philippines Inc. and Switzerland-based SICPA SA churned out the ready-to-use official marker as well as conducted actual marking.

As mandated by the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act, the government shouldered the fuel marking cost of P0.06884 per liter in its first year of implementation.

Department of Finance (DOF) officials had estimated the nationwide volume of oil products to be marked at 15.2 billion liters, with an additional P20 billion in tax revenues expected to be raised this year from the program which is aimed at stopping smuggling and fraudulent importation.

Government estimates had shown that foregone revenues from smuggled and misdeclared fuel products reached more than half of actual duties and taxes collected in recent years.

TSB