Saturday, September 27, 2008 Petron owes gov't P623M in import tax
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) is eyeing to collect P623 million additional duties and taxes and two time penalty from Petron Corporation from its importation in the last three years.
Commissioner Napoleon Morales issued a demand letter to Petron on August 29 informing the oil firm that "the audit covering July 26, 2004 to June 26, 2007 indicates that they have outstanding deficiencies amounting P623,631,446 representing total additional assessment on customs duties and taxes inclusive of two time penalty for the revenue loss."
The BOC gave Petron 10 days upon receipt of the letter to settle the obligation.
Morales warned the oil company that "failure to settle the tax arrears within the given period will compel the bureau to impose Section 1508 of the Tariff and Customs Code against the succeeding shipments of your company."
Section 1508 empowers the district customs collector to impound the shipment until such time the importer settles the tax due.
Early this year, Manila Port district collector Horacio Suansing placed on hold the delivery of oil shipments to the Oilink International Corp. depot in Bataan Province due to non-payment of tax.
A warrant of seizure and detention was subsequently issued ordering for the sealing of the gatevalves of the shoretanks in the Oilink depot.
The bureau's Post Entry Audit Group (PEAG) is reviewing the shipments of small oil companies, including Unioil, Eastern Petroleum, Total and Flying V, to determine if they had been paying the correct taxes.
The PEAG collected more than P80 million through its post entry audit for the last six months.
The group was created to help boost the agency's revenue collection as it tasked to review shipment records to detect irregularities in the importation. (FP/Sunnex)
