Senator Sonny Angara has called on the Department of Finance to provide appropriate tax benefits due to overseas Filipino workers as intended by the provisions on balikbayan boxes under the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.
During an oversight committee hearing on the review of CMTA’s implementation, Angara asked the DoF to revise its implementing rules on duty and tax-free balikbayan boxes, under Customs Administrative Order No. 5-2016.
The CAO’s implementing rules said that “all balikbayan boxes per sender in any calendar year shall not exceed P150,000.”
Such rule, Angara said , is contrary to the intent of the law which provides that OFWs can send up to three P150,000-worth of tax and duty free balikbayan boxes, or not exceeding P450,000 in a year, given that the goods are not in commercial quantities.
He pointed out that the intention of CMTA is to not tax balikbayan boxes with a value not exceeding P150,000 for every three years or P150,000 divided by three.
“We passed this law to recognize the huge contribution of OFWs in our economy. Let us give what is due to them,” he said.
DoF Assistant Secretary Mark Joven, during the hearing, explained that there is an “ambiguity” in the language of the law, hence the different interpretation of the Finance department on the said provision.
Rep. Sharon Garin, a member of the oversight committee and who was part of the CMTA bicameral committee, said the DoF should have referred to the records of the bicam hearing in determining the intent of the law.
Angara said that during the deliberation of the CMTA, it was ascertained that an ordinary OFW usually sends a balikbayan box to his or her family every three or four months.
“Each balikbayan box usually contains P80,000 worth of items. Our OFWs really saved up for them,” he said.
He added that exempting balikbayan boxes from taxes means “doing justice to OFWs who remit billions of pesos every year.”
The CMTA also provides for a less intrusive examination of goods brought in to the country, in order to prevent tampering of balikbayan boxes from happening.
Angara urged the DOF and the Bureau of Customs to immediately resolve the issues on the implementing rules of the balikbayan box law especially as Christmas season nears.
“Magbe-Ber months na naman po at sigurado akong nagsisimula nang mamili ng mga ipapadala ang ating mga kababayan abroad. Noong nakaraang taon pa namin naipasa ito. Sana ay mapakinabangan na ngayon ng ating mga OFW ang mga benepisyong hatid ng batas na ito,” he said.