THE Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) revenue collection for the first half of the year reached P302.74 billion, exceeding its P291.83-billion goal as the economy gradually improved, resulting in higher import volumes.
The bureau surpassed its collection target for January to June this year by 3.7 percent or P10.91 billion, based on the preliminary report from the BOC Financial Service.
The revenue take of the BOC for the first six months was also a 19.6-percent surge compared to its collection of P253.091 billion in the same period in 2020.
For June alone, the BOC also breached its P47.175-billion target, with a tax haul of P52.447 billion. This amount already included additional revenues from the Tax Expenditure Fund collection of P157.06 million and Post Clearance Audit Group collection of P148.73 million.
The bureau’s tax haul in June this year is higher by 11.2 percent than its revenue goal for the month. It was also a 23.14-percent jump from its collection of P42.59 billion in June 2020.
This also marks the sixth consecutive month this year that the BOC managed to exceed its revenue target despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the overall trading environment and the stringent community quarantine measures imposed since last year.
Apart from higher import volumes, Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero attributed the bureau’s positive collection performance to its “improved valuation,” digitized and modernized systems, and the intensified collection efforts of all the bureau’s 17 collection districts.
The BOC is targeting to collect P616.7 billion this year. This is significantly higher by 21.84 percent than the downgraded target set for the BOC at P506.15 billion last year.
The bureau’s total revenue collection last year reached P539.7 billion, above its full-year revenue collection target by 6.6 percent or P33.5 billion.
The downgraded goal for BOC last year was a 30.76-percent cut from the original target of P731 billion.