Subic tax remittances hit P7.62 billion

SUBIC BAY Freeport -  Tax collection agencies in Subic Freeport have turned over to the national treasury a total of P7.62 billion in taxes collected from January to December 2012.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) chairman and administrator Roberto Garcia said the amount was derived from taxes collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Garcia said the combined collection of BIR and BOC here has consistently increased in the last four years, showing growing profitability among Freeport-registered locators.

SBMA records indicated that the two agencies yielded a combined collection of P5.28 billion in 2008. This increased by 6.18 percent to P5.6 billion in 2009; by 19.25 percent to P6.68 billion in 2010; by 8.14 percent to P7.22 billion in 2011; and by 5.42 percent to P7.62 billion last year.

During the same period in review, the BIR alone collected a total of P1.29 billion from income, value-added, percentage and other taxes, with a 16.22-percent surplus over the 2011 collection record of P1.11 million.

The BIR collections included a portion of the five-percent corporate tax levied on the annual gross income of Subic-registered locator companies. The three percent of the five-percent corporate tax that the BIR collected from January to December 2012 reached P205.33 million.

BIR’s peak monthly performance was recorded in April 2012 when its collection reached P139.43 million. However, the BIR fell short of its goal of P1.3 billion by 1.21 percent.

Meanwhile, the Port of Subic-BOC posted collections worth P6.33 billion in January-December 2012. This record indicated a slight increase of 3.47 percent over the P6.12-billion customs harvest in 2011.

Subic-BOC also posted non-cash collections worth P491.22 million from government-to-government transactions.

Garcia expressed optimism that this year, more businesses will invest in the Subic Bay Freeport, thus paving the way for more business activities, employment opportunities, and tax returns.