Solon wants to raise tax exemption of balikbayan boxes

MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker on Tuesday proposed to raise of taxes and custom duties exemption of balikbayan boxes at the House of Representatives.

AGAP party-list Rep. Nicanor Briones is seeking for the amendment of the National Internal Revenue Code of the Philippines to increase the boxes' tax exemption from $500 to $2,000, including the personal effects of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and other returning Filipino migrants or residents abroad whose value does not exceed P100,000.

Briones, chair of the House committee on overseas workers affairs, said he proposed the House Bill 6156 or the proposed OFW Balikbayan Box Law" to recognize the huge contribution of OFWs to the country's economy through their remittances amounting to $24.3 billion in the last year alone.

"These boxes, symbolic of their love, do not contain gold, guns and riches. They are packed with clothes, simple household items, books, soap, toothpaste and other things the OFWs have lovingly collected in the course of the year," Briones said.

He cited Filipinos abroad carefully and patiently fill their balikbayan boxes to send their families, relatives, and friends, joy and a piece of themselves.

Briones, however, lamented that the gesture of affection was used by the Bureau of Customs to see the opportunity of collecting taxes from the OFW balikbayan boxes.

Under House Bill 6156, contents of the balikbayan boxes will be exempted from customs and duties if their value does not exceed $2,000. It also exempts personal effects of OFWs and other returning Filipino migrants or residents abroad if their value does not exceed P100,000.

The bill provides that every six years after its implementation, the values stated in the measure shall be adjusted to their present values using the Consumer Price Index published by the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The proposed law mandates that the Department of Finance, Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Internal Revenue must create necessary rules and regulations within 60 days after its approval.

The proposed bill is currently pending at the Committee on Ways and Means.

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