Car makers want BIR revenue regulation junked

Local car manufacturers have urged the Department of Finance and the Bureau of Internal Revenue to put aside BIR Revenue Regulation 4-2003 as the new excise tax bill has been signed into law by President Arroyo.

According to Serafin Pantaleon, senior vice president of Toyota Motors Philippines, the DOF should issue a clarification about the status of RR-4-2003 now that the new excise tax scheme is set to take effect.

Pantaleon said implementing the RR would only confuse the industry. Instead, government should just shift directly to the new excise tax system.

Vicente Mills of the Philippine Automotive Federation Inc. echoed the same sentiment as he warned that implementing RR-4-2003 would only complicate the car tax implementation.

The DOF and the BIR had earlier said that they would go ahead with the implementation of RR-4-2003 on Sept. 9.

RR-4-2003 would implement stricter seat measurements for Asian utility vehicles (AUVs).

Thus, AUVs that are exempt from excise taxes but fail to meet the strict seat measurement requirements would lose their exemption and would have to pay higher taxes.

The new excise tax bill, however, already removes the AUVs’ exemption from excise taxes.

As such, local car manufacturers said, government should just implement the new excise tax system and abandon its plan to implement RR-4-2003 on Sept. 9.