Subic tax collection up 35% in 2014

MANILA, Philippines - Tax collections of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone went up 35 percent in 2014 from a year ago amid rising profitability of locator firms.

According to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) combined tax collections of the two agencies amounted to P17.1 billion in 2014, up from the P12.7 billion in 2013.

Collections of the BOC alone amounted to P15.3 billion last year, 36 percent higher than the P11.2-billion tally in 2013.

The BIR, meanwhile, collected P1.8 billion worth of income taxes, value-added taxes, percentage taxes and others.

A portion of the BIR collection also comes from the five-percent corporate tax computed from the annual gross income of Subic-registered locator companies.

Of the five-percent corporate tax, three percent is remitted to the national treasury, while the balance is given in the form of local government unit shares.

SBMA chairman and administrator Roberto Garcia said total tax collections from Subic-registered companies and their employees “never faltered, and mirrored the overall uptick in the Philippine economy in the past few years.”

“This only shows that there has been continuous growth among business locators here in terms of earnings, as well as employment,” he said.

Combined collections of the BOC and BIR have been on the rise since 2009 when it reached P5.6 billion compared to P5.3 billion in 2008, or a growth of 6.18 percent.

In 2010, collections continued to increase 19.25 percent to P6.7 billion, and 8.14 percent to P7.2 billion in 2011.

A further uptick of 5.42 percent was seen in 2012 when total collections reached P7.6 billion.

In 2013, the total tax haul hit P12.7 billion, representing a 66.28 percent year-on-year growth.