Legal Analysis Needed!
From MLQ3's Twitter:
"Would appreciate analysis of this by lawyers. Seems to me DOF didn't get the point they violated Florence Agreement."
The "this" MLQ3 is referring to is this, an email from Atty. Andrea Pasion-Flores of the NBDB:
Dear Manolo:
First of all, thank you for your column today regarding the complexity of the process that individuals have to go through to get books out of the post office duty-free. I had a conversation with a DOF official this afternoon, and I assure you that they are sympathetic to the plight of individuals getting their books through the mail. However, I was told that they are constrained by law (the Tarriff and Customs Code of the Philippines) to charge those administrative fees. The fees are not import duties, nor are they the VAT (and I would really check if I were the individual assessed that I am not charged VAT because it does sometimes happen though perhaps this is inadvertent). The DOF shares the view that books should not be charged VAT; it’s in the National Internal Revenue Code after all (Sec. 109 I think).
At the moment, the Bureau of Customs, absent a DOF certificate of exemption, will assess the individual or the commercial importer duties; it’s their mandate. So at the moment the fees are there because it’s in the TCCP—and everyone, especially the big importers are subject to these fees. Of course the big importers are used to this and regularly apply for exemption. But I know it is a hassle for individuals for the few titles that come in now and then.To resolve the matter, the DOF and the NBDB will work together to remove these fees for individuals, a lot of it is in the details because not all books that come in through the mail are apparently for non-commecial purposes.
The President did mention in her SONA that books are duty-free and, as you know, there is a suspension of the application of the duties for books. The NBDB, DOF and the Tariff Commission are working together on this to make it a permanent thing because of the President’s directive. For our part, the NBDB has submitted a petition to the Tariff Commission to zero-rate the tariff for books (and not just for printed books, but books of all kinds like audio books and such). I think the DOF has a similar petition with the TC. Let me stress that the DOF is open to discussing how to fix the waiving of the administrative fees with us.So I’d like to ask for a little more patience while we discuss the details…
In any case, let me assure you that we hope to resolve the matter soon.
Best regards,
Andrea
I suppose you can get in touch with MLQ3 by leaving a comment on his blog.
"Would appreciate analysis of this by lawyers. Seems to me DOF didn't get the point they violated Florence Agreement."
The "this" MLQ3 is referring to is this, an email from Atty. Andrea Pasion-Flores of the NBDB:
Dear Manolo:
First of all, thank you for your column today regarding the complexity of the process that individuals have to go through to get books out of the post office duty-free. I had a conversation with a DOF official this afternoon, and I assure you that they are sympathetic to the plight of individuals getting their books through the mail. However, I was told that they are constrained by law (the Tarriff and Customs Code of the Philippines) to charge those administrative fees. The fees are not import duties, nor are they the VAT (and I would really check if I were the individual assessed that I am not charged VAT because it does sometimes happen though perhaps this is inadvertent). The DOF shares the view that books should not be charged VAT; it’s in the National Internal Revenue Code after all (Sec. 109 I think).
At the moment, the Bureau of Customs, absent a DOF certificate of exemption, will assess the individual or the commercial importer duties; it’s their mandate. So at the moment the fees are there because it’s in the TCCP—and everyone, especially the big importers are subject to these fees. Of course the big importers are used to this and regularly apply for exemption. But I know it is a hassle for individuals for the few titles that come in now and then.To resolve the matter, the DOF and the NBDB will work together to remove these fees for individuals, a lot of it is in the details because not all books that come in through the mail are apparently for non-commecial purposes.
The President did mention in her SONA that books are duty-free and, as you know, there is a suspension of the application of the duties for books. The NBDB, DOF and the Tariff Commission are working together on this to make it a permanent thing because of the President’s directive. For our part, the NBDB has submitted a petition to the Tariff Commission to zero-rate the tariff for books (and not just for printed books, but books of all kinds like audio books and such). I think the DOF has a similar petition with the TC. Let me stress that the DOF is open to discussing how to fix the waiving of the administrative fees with us.So I’d like to ask for a little more patience while we discuss the details…
In any case, let me assure you that we hope to resolve the matter soon.
Best regards,
Andrea
I suppose you can get in touch with MLQ3 by leaving a comment on his blog.
posted by pgenrestories at 11:51 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home