BIR accreditation rules deprive brokers of lawful rights—CCBI

The Chamber of Customs Brokers, Inc. (CCBI) is requesting that its members be exempt from a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) order that automatically denies new customs brokers and importers the right to apply for accreditation unless they have carried out an importation at least once.

In a memorandum dated July 23, Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares gave instructions to Rosana San Vicente, BIR-Accounts Receivable and Monitoring Division (ARMD) chair, for new taxpayer applicants, or those not included in the Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) list of importers and customs brokers as of February 2014, to be “immediately denied (accreditation) subject to the refiling thereof after he/she has satisfactorily completed a single importation with the BOC.”

The memorandum further stipulates that another application for accreditation may be only re-filed three months after the date of denial of the first application, or after the applicant proves he is a regular user of BIR’s Electronic Filing and Payment System and considered a compliant taxpayer.

Henares said this requirement is anchored on the principle that the BIR clearance for the accreditation of an importer or customs broker “can only be issued (based) on the taxpayer’s record of performance with respect to the level of tax compliance.”

CCBI president Joseph Tabirara, in a letter to BIR dated August 22, said Henares’ order will deprive licensed customs brokers who have not been accredited with BOC since February 24 the right to practice their profession “simply because it is impossible for them to provide service covering a single importation because they are not accredited.”

Tabirara added, “They (customs brokers) need to be accredited first with the Bureau of Customs for them to be able to provide service to at least a single importation.”

Thus, CCBI is requesting the exclusion of customs brokers from this provision in the memorandum “to avoid further deprivation to customs brokers of the privilege unequivocally granted to them by R.A. 9280,” or the Customs Brokers Act of 2004.

Earlier, a PortCalls source said the Department of Finance, the BIR and BOC’s mother agency, is set to issue an order allowing the customs agency to grant new importers a provisional authority to import pending their application for accreditation.

The source said the order will require from the new importers a paid-up equity of P1 million, and will exclude single proprietorships from getting accreditation.

The new accreditation rules issued by the DOF in February mandate a two-tier process requiring importers and brokers to first secure an Importer Clearance Certificate or Broker Clearance Certificate, respectively, from the BIR before they can proceed with BOC accreditation.

About 9,418 applicants, or 63% of the 14,995 registered customs brokers and importers, were able to meet July 31 deadline for BIR accreditation. — Roumina Pablo

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