Customs exceeds June collection target by 11%

THE BUREAU of Customs (BoC) collected P52.447 billion from duties and taxes last month, beating its target by 11.2% despite sustained impact of the pandemic on global trade.

Preliminary data released on Thursday showed the bureau’s June collection surpassed its P47.175- billion target for the month and also 23.1% bigger than the P42.59 billion in the same period last year.

June marked the sixth straight month that Customs beat its monthly target this year.

The BoC said last month’s total included the additional revenues generated from its post-audit activities worth P148.73 million, and the P157.06 million collected via the Tax Expenditure Fund, where the import duties and taxes of state-run firms are pooled.

In the first half, Customs collected P302.74 billion, or 3.7% higher than its P291.833-billion goal for the six-month period.

Year on year, this was also 19.6% higher than P253.09 billion seen in the same period in 2020.

The January-June revenues accounted for 48.83% of the BoC’s P620-billion collection target for the entire year. — Beatrice M. Laforga