The revenue collection target for 2018 of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has been reduced by P10 billion to P584.9 billion with the fuel marking program yet to be implemented.
In a memorandum dated November 15 and signed November 22, Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero said the Department of Finance (DOF), BOC’s mother agency, granted the customs bureau’s appeal to reduce the initial target by P10 billion from P594.881 billion.
Earlier, BOC said the fuel marking system will be implemented by next year following the drafting of implementing rules and regulations of the program and the awarding of contract for the winning joint venture.
The contract was, however, only awarded last October 30 to the joint venture of Switzerland-based SICPA SA and SGS Philippines. The JV was given 30 days from October 30, also the contract signing date, to submit the master plan for the fuel marking system.
The marking of petroleum products, whether imported or manufactured in the Philippines, will become mandatory five years after the Tax Acceleration for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law took effect January of this year.
Fuel marking is required on all petroleum products that are refined, manufactured, or imported into the Philippines and subject to the payment of duties and taxes, such gasoline, denatured alcohol used for motive power, kerosene, and diesel fuel oil, with the marking to be applied after the taxes and duties have been paid.
The system will also monitor all locally refined finished oil products to ensure correct payment of corresponding excise taxes and value-added tax.
In the same memo, Guerrero commended the performance of BOC’s collection districts that led to a year-to-date surplus of almost P15 billion.
“However, we cannot afford to rest [on] our laurels until the last working day of the year and in fact all district collectors are enjoined to strive harder to increase their collection efforts that will redound to a bigger surplus for the bureau,” the customs chief pointed out.
In a separate memorandum dated and signed on December 11, Guerrero directed all district collectors to submit a collection deficit recovery plan “with concrete and deliverable measures, to help ensure that the bureau will meet the assigned target for 2018.” The directive was issued “in view of the low collection performance for the months of October and November.”
For eight straight months from February to September 2018, BOC has reported revenues exceeding its monthly targets. It has yet to disclose its October and November collections.
