Revenue collection by the Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) in the first seven months of the year reached P246.98 billion, an 11.48% increase from the P221.54 billion earned in the same period last year.
But the seven-month collection is 3.95% short of the P257.14 billion target for the period, according to the Department of Finance, BOC’s mother agency.
For July alone, BOC collected P34.82 billion, 12.35% higher than the P30.99 billion recorded in the same month last year. This, however, is 11.15% lower than the P39.18 billion target for the month.
According to preliminary data on BOC’s website, only seven of BOC’s 17 collection districts surpassed their target collections for July. These are the ports of San Fernando (P211.4 million), Batangas (P8.936 billion), Iloilo (P282.5 million), Tacloban (P60.6 million), Cagayan de Oro (P1.103 billion), Davao (P1.222 billion), and Clark (P127.5 million).
Manila International Container Port contributed the largest share during the period with P10.901 billion, but fell short of its P12.083 billion target.
BOC also collected P162.7 million under the Office of the Commissioner and from the Tax Exemption Fund, which represents import duties and taxes of state-owned firms. This figure is higher than the P150 million target.
According to finance assistant secretary Mark Dennis Joven, sister agencies BOC and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) are initiating measures to strengthen voluntary compliance among taxpayers. These initiatives, added Joven, include forcing taxpayers to go to BIR and BOC, and making it easier for them to pay their taxes.
For 2017, BOC is tasked to collect P468 billion.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
