BIR exceeds goal by P1.6B in September
The Bureau of Internal Revenue collected P60.96 billion in September, exceeding its target by P1.6 billion.At the same time, the Bureau of Customs missed its P23.6-billion collection target for the month by some P2 billion, mainly due to the appreciation of the peso. For the nine months to September, BIR collections reached P607.33 billion, falling short of its goal by 4.8 percent. “Last month the BIR’s collections grew by 17 percent, the highest in about 28 months,” Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim S. Henares said. “We exceeded our target, the first time since January. This just shows that the Bureau’s performance continues to improve.” According to Customs Commissioner Angelito A. Alvarez, for every peso gained against the dollar, the BoC would lose about P4.8 billion. The government is currently operating on a budget based on an exchange rate of P45:$1. This has become a problem because the peso is now trading below 44 against the greenback, Alvarez said Thursday. This meant that the BoC failed to deliver on its monthly targets for the third time since the Aquino administration took over the reins of government. Still, the agency may expect better performance in October and November, when high import volumes are traditionally observed, Alvarez said. “We are seeing rising volumes this October,” he said. “The first week of the month alone would have improved by about 10 percent (over the year).” But he said collection could resume its decline in December, a usually low-volume period in an average year. Alvarez maintained that the BoC had never missed its collection targets since he assumed office in July. For September alone, Alvarez said, cash revenue reached P20.1 billion. But while the agency may likely miss its full year target of P280 billion, it still has a good chance to collect P241 billion in cash as planned, Alvarez said. Data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed that in the eight months to August, the customs bureau collected P170.7 billion, which was 16 percent higher than the P147.1 billion reported in the same period of 2009.
Business highly optimistic for 4th quarter
From the looks of it, this Christmas may bring on more than good cheer for the local business community. According to a survey conducted by consultancy firm Dun & Bradstreet, local firms are at their most optimistic for the fourth quarter, with most respondents expecting a 63-percent jump in net income for the last three months of 2010 compared with the same period last year. Expectations for this rise in earnings for the fourth quarter mark the sharpest spike in optimism for the entire 2010, representing a 13-percentage point increase over expectations of a 50-percent earnings increase for the third quarter. In a briefing Thursday, economist Victor Abola—who interpreted the data for Dun & Bradstreet’s local unit—noted that the optimism was due mainly to the strong performance of financial markets in the country, as well as the trust rating of President Aquino, which recently stood at a record high 88 percent. “The heightened view on profits for the [fourth] quarter is an additional reason to be optimistic, since this will encourage firms to expand further their output, probably even their capacities, in 2011,” he said. Firms are also expecting sales volumes in the fourth quarter to rise by 70 percent year on year, the survey revealed. Dun & Bradstreet said this marked the third consecutive quarter that companies’ outlook on sales volumes surged, attributing it again to “vibrant” financial markets. The Business Optimism Index survey was conducted in mid-September. Its results were culled from a respondent base of 260 firms, out of the estimated 1,200 companies that were polled, officials said.
P24-B smuggling case filed vs Pilipinas Shell
THE GOVERNMENT yesterday filed a P24-billion smuggling case against Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., charging the firm with misdeclaring and misclassifying imports from 2005 to 2009. The complaint, filed by the Bureau of Customs before the Justice department, follows a still-unresolved P7.35-billion case involving unpaid excise taxes for importations from 2004 to 2009. "This criminal complaint against Pilipinas Shell should prove to everyone that President [Benigno] Aquino’s campaign against smuggling, corruption and other economic crimes respect no sacred cows," Customs Commissioner Angelito A. Alvarez told reporters. Charged were Nigel T. Avila, Pilipinas Shell country tax manager; employees Brian Khriz Acosta, Carolyn A. Francisco, Ma. Cristina Rago; and Customs brokers Janice de los Reyes, Diosdado G. Bagon, Jorge T. Pascual, Jr., and Mary Grace M. Maleon. The Customs bureau alleged that 52 unleaded gasoline importations made by Pilipinas Shell from 2007 to 2009 were "intentionally" misclassified as tetrapropylene, a raw material used in making gasoline that is not subject to tax. Taxes supposed to be collected totaled P2.48 billion. The firm supposedly misdeclared another set of unleaded gasoline imports from August 2005 to December 2008 as catalytic cracked gasoline (CCG) or light catalytic cracked gasoline (LCCG), which are not subject to excise tax. Uncollected taxes summed up to P385.8 million. The firm should have paid a total of P2.7 billion in taxes but the Customs bureau added another P21.78 billion in surcharges. "We have never, ever engaged in smuggling," Edgardo Chua, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum chairman, said. "We are one of the biggest tax payers in the country," he said in a television interview. "This charge is totally, totally, shall we say, ridiculous." The first case involved CCG/LCCG importations made by Pilipinas Shell from 2004 to 2009. The Customs bureau claims the importations are subject to tax and late last year threatened to seize Shell imports, averted after the oil firm put up a P7-billion bond early this year pending a final court ruling.
| 
