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The Bureau of Customs (BOC), the government's second largest tax agency, has failed to achieve its 2024 revenue target of ₱939.6 billion, only collecting ₱931.05 billion last year.
While its 2024 revenues exceeded the ₱883.21 billion in 2023, the country's second-biggest tax-collection agency fell short of last year's goal by ₱8.55 billion or nearly one percent (0.91 percent) of the program.
This is a reversal of the BOC’s achievement in 2023 when it exceeded that year’s targeted ₱874.17 billion by ₱9.05 billion.
Among the major drags to 2024 collections, the BOC said, were the “impact of tariff reductions on rice and selected [electric] vehicles” and the delayed approval of “priority reforms, such as the excise tax on pick-ups under the Capital Markets Efficiency Promotion Act (CMEPA).”
The 19th Congress just approved CMEPA, under Senate Bill (SB) No. 2865, on third reading last week.
Despite these setbacks, the BOC said in a statement released over the weekend that its 2024 revenue collection was still an achievement, and that the agency “continued to play a crucial role in supporting the Philippines’ national development.”
It noted that several ports surpassed their collection targets for the year, including Legazpi, Tacloban, Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Clark, and Cagayan De Oro.
The BOC earned an additional ₱2.71 billion from post-clearance audits and voluntary disclosure applications. Revenue from the tax expenditure fund (TEF), which covers government importations, totaled ₱13.24 billion.
For 2025, the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) has tasked the BOC to collect ₱1.06 trillion, the first time targeting the ₱1-trillion mark.
Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto, who oversees the BOC, earlier said he expects the agency to face difficulty reaching this year's goal, which is 12.8 percent bigger last year’s.
