BOC falls short of target despite 21% growth in collection

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Customs grew its revenue by 21.1 percent last year, but still fell short of its collection goal of P408.1 million.

Based on official data released yesterday, the BOC sustained its double-digit growth, chalking up revenues of P369.31 billion in 2014.   The amount, however, was 10.5 percent short of the agency’s target for the year.

Majority of the country’s portals led by the Manila International Container Terminal, Port of Manila and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport failed to meet their revenue targets.

Only the ports of Batangas, Iloilo, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Subic and Aparri exceeded their collection targets for 2014.

For December alone, BOC revenues reached P38.14 billion, up 60.25 percent from the P23.8 billion registered in the same month in 2013.  The amount was also 19.3 percent higher than its P31.98 billion goal.  

Cash collections which net out importations that are booked as Tax Expenditure Funds, or non-cash collections recorded on paper for government transactions, rose by 14 percent  despite the  decline in the value of crude and petroleum products by 38 and 23-percent, respectively, due to fall in oil price.

Tax Expenditure Funds surged by more than 100 percent  arising from the collection of P11.012 billion worth of government accounts, mostly,  coming from importations of the National Food Authority.

For this year, the BOC is tasked to collect a total of P456.47 billion with P446.47 billion comprising the cash component.

Sevilla remains confident the BOC would maintain its growth pace this year as it continues to reliantly pursue unscrupulous importers/brokers and implement reforms aimed at improving the efficiency of processes.

Among these measures include cutting the processing time of imports to within four hours and improving the system for monitoring valuation.

The BOC also intends to roll out the National Single Window that make all transactions with importers electronic.

The use of electronic transactions is part of the BOC’s effort to improve its image and boost collections.