-
The Bureau of Customs has been allocated a budget of P4.084 billion under the General Appropriations Act of 2025, 28% higher than its P3.190 billion budget in 2024
-
The 2025 budget is, however, lower than the proposed budget of P5.66 billion
-
P760.789 million of the 2025 budget is for general administration and support while P3.323 billion is for operations
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has been allocated a budget of P4.084 billion under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2025, 28% higher than its P3.190-billion budget in 2024 but lower than its proposed P5.66 billion.
Of the total, P760.789 million is for general administration and support while P3.323 billion is for operations, consisting of P2.484 billion for the customs revenue enhancement program and P838.680 million for the customs border protection and cargo control and clearance program.
The GAA 2025 did grant BOC’s proposed P1.9-billion budget for personnel services, P1.44 billion for maintenance and other operating expenses, and capital outlay of P742.868 million, all of which are higher than last year’s appropriations.
At last year’s Senate Committee on Finance hearing for the Department of Finance (DOF) and its attached agencies’ budgets for 2025, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said BOC’s capital outlay will fund the acquisition of 17 service vehicles, investments in various information and communications technology and office equipment, and the construction of the second phase of the new BOC building at the Iloilo Commercial Port Complex.
In addition to the appropriated budget, P50 million sourced from services fees collected from importers utilizing BOC’s Super Green Lane Facility should be used for the maintenance and improvement of the operations of the facility, including the Automated Customs Operation System and related computer systems.
Another P1.365 billion will be used for the maintenance, improvement, and upgrading of the non-intrusive container inspection system sourced from the mandatory container security fee imposed on every 40-footer and 20-footer container under the system.
The amount of P20.059 billion will be used for refund of excess or erroneous collection of value-added tax and other internal revenue taxes in accordance with Republic Act (RA) No. 8424, or the Tax Reform Act of 1997, as amended, as amended; refund of excess collections of duties pursuant to RA10863, or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act; cash conversion of valid and unexpired tax credit certificates (TCCs); and refund of input taxes attributable to zero-rated or effectively zero-rated transactions under RA No. 8424.
The amount intended for the payment of VAT refunds is limited to 5% of the total VAT collections of BOC from the immediately preceding year, while those for payment of the other tax refunds are to be sourced from the current year’s tax revenue collections of the bureau.
The informer’s reward of 20% of the actual proceeds from the sale of smuggled and confiscated goods or collected penalties established by law, meanwhile, may be given to persons instrumental in the actual collections of additional revenues in accordance with RA No. 10863.
The P3.609 billion budget for the grant of rewards and incentives to BOC’s officials and employees for exceeding its prior years’ revenue collection targets, meanwhile, has been subjected to conditional implementation under President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s veto message on the 2025 GAA.
The rewards and incentives budget is supposed to be sourced from 15% of the collection of BOC in excess of its revenue targets pursuant to Section 4 of RA No. 9335, or the Attrition Act of 2005.
For this year, BOC has set its five priority programs, which include digitalization, trade facilitation, curbing smuggling, surpassing revenue collection targets, and enhancing employee welfare and conduct.
Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio earlier acknowledged their significant challenges ahead, particularly the P1.06 trillion revenue target for the year, a 12.8% increase from 2024’s revenue collection target of P939.6 billion.
