The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has trimmed the documentary requirements of importers and customs brokers who have transactions at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in order to expedite provision of their Importer’s Clearance Certificate and Broker’s Clearance Certificate (BCC).
BIR Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) No. 1-2015, signed on Dec 19 and effective immediately, amends requirements of RMO 10-2014, which provides the policies, guidelines and procedures for accrediting importers and customs brokers with the BIR.
For applicants, BIR no longer requires a certified copy of the Certificate of Registration (COR) issued by BIR, and the certified true copy of Securities and Exchange Commissioner Registration and Articles of Incorporation.
Except for these two documents, importers and customs brokers per RMO 10-2014 still need to present the following documents attached to the application form: certification from Revenue District Officer/Head of office having jurisdiction over the applicant’s registered address; certification of no pending criminal charges from the Regional Legal Division ; certification of no delinquent account from the Regional Collection Division; certification of no listed tax liability with the Accounts Receivable Monitoring Division (ARMD); and certifications from the Chief, Audit Information, Tax Exemption and Incentives Division (AITEID) and Chief, Miscellaneous Operations Monitoring Division (MOMD).
BIR noted that applicants submitting to ARMD any certification different from the one issued by the concerned offices will be automatically denied.
For importers and customs brokers granted with provisional ICCs and BCCs, BIR requires submission of six certifications from different BIR offices at least one month prior to the expiration of the six-month validity period of the provisional authority.
“The six-month validity period of the Provisional ICC/BCC shall no longer be extended once the aforesaid documents are not submitted, without prejudice to the refiling of another application with the ARMD once the same are already available,” BIR noted.
However, for those who submit the required documents, BIR said ARMD will immediately verify their authenticity and if they are found to be in order, a regular ICC/BCC will be issued and the validity extended to three years, counted from the date of issuance of the provisional ICC/BCC.
The agency also ordered its offices to observe these timelines in issuing the certifications upon receipt of application:
- RDO/LTD/Concerned HREA of LTS – 10 working days
- Regional Legal Division – within three working days
- Regional Collection Division – within three working days
- ARMD – within three working days from receipt of the application for Tax
- Delinquency Verification; and
- AITEID/MOMD – within five working days
In February last year, BIR’s mother agency, the Department of Finance (DOF), issued a new two-tiered accreditation process in which importers and customs brokers must first secure their ICC or BCC from the BIR before proceeding to BOC for their second accreditation.
The BIR said that as of October 14 last year, it has already received 14,820 applications, of which almost 9,000 were already processed and a total of 5,154 would be acted upon by end of November. Rosana San Vicente, chief of BIR’s ARMD that oversees the accreditation process, said the “outstanding unprocessed” 5,154 applications that were left behind did not qualify under the criteria set forth in RMO 10-2014.
However, of the almost 9,000 applications processed, only about 2,000 were issued regular ICCs and BCCs, while the bulk received provisional clearances.
Last November, DOF issued Department Order No. 107-2014 to exempt Philippine Economic Zone Authority locators from securing an ICC, but still requiring them to go through accreditation with BOC, which requires lesser documents.
The private sector has asked the government to streamline the new accreditation process due to difficulties in securing clearance from BIR, and in obtaining the numerous documentary requirements. San Vicente, during one of last year’s Senate hearings on the port congestion, admitted lacking enough manpower to process the applications that arrived in bulk last June to July.
A total of 14,995 importers and customs brokers were listed with BOC in February 2014. – Roumina Pablo
Image courtesy of Rawich at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
