The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) has revised the guidelines for claiming of refunds for overcharged payments and fees.
Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 01-2018, to take effect on March 26, amends certain sections of PPA MC 07-2016 that provides procedural guidelines for claiming refunds.
Under the new procedure, the claim for refund will still depend on the nature of the customer’s transaction with PPA, and may either be cash refund or credit memo.
Cash refund will apply in four cases. First is excess payment, which occurs when the check payment is greater than the amount billed in the invoice. Excess payment that may be refunded in cash must not be less than P100.
Second is payment on undelivered ancillary port services by PPA that were not, however, rendered by the agency due to unavoidable circumstances.
Bid security refers to the cash deposit made by the winning bidder to guarantee the execution of the contract within a specified period of time.
Lastly, a new case for cash refund has been added, which involves the overpayment of vessel and cargo charges wherein the application of credit memo to future billings is impractical, such as payment of a one-time port customer; payment by the port customer to operating units in which collection of vessel and cargo charges due to PPA is processed in the receipting system owned by the terminal operator/cargo-handler; and similar situations.
The prescribed period for claiming refund of overpayment is within six years of the date of actual payment.
The output value-added tax (VAT) collected is not refundable since it can be claimed as input VAT payment by VAT-registered port customers.
For claiming refunds of overpaid vessel and cargo charges through credit memo or cash refund, MC 01-2018 states that the port customer shall submit to PPA’s Operating Unit a letter request for refund addressed to the port manager; machine copies of PPA official receipts/invoices to be stamped with notation “verified correct and remitted to PPA’s bank account” by the PPA Port Management Office; and additional documents listed in the new circular that will guarantee that the amount being claimed for refund is valid.
These additional documents include certification of the shipping lines attesting to any erroneous entry made; certification of the cargo-handling operator on the actual cargoes handled; and certification of shut-out issued by the shipping line.
For charges made against vessels, additional documents include dockage/anchorage report; statistical supplement and oath of master authenticated by the harbor master for overstated gross revenue tonnage; amended dockage/anchorage report duly certified by the harbor master for overstated staytime of the vessels; and for foreign vessels, copy of the contract of agency or special power of attorney between the principal and local ship agent.
Procedures for refund differ depending on the amount of refund to be claimed, and are categorized based on vessel and cargo charges amounting to P100,000 and below; more than P100,000 up to P10 million, and more than P10 million.
The new circular basically amends the last steps in approving such refunds, and changes some of the offices or units involved. – Roumina Pablo
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