Task group announces publication of IRR on fuel marking program

Members of the task force created to implement the government's fuel marking program announced Saturday the publication of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the fuel tax measure.

In a press release, the task force —composed of the Department of Finance (DOF), Bureau of Customs (BOC), and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) —said the IRR was published last July 5, 2019 in a newspaper of national circulation.

It said, "The Joint Circular (JC) is based on Section 148-A of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC), as amended by the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law, which requires the use of an official fuel marker in refined, manufactured or imported gasoline, diesel and kerosene in the Philippines."

Moreover, it said, "Provisions of the NIRC such as Sections 12, 15, 155, 171, 172, 157 and 265-A provide the BOC and the BIR the authority to collect, monitor and apprehend parties violating the law in relation to fuel marking."

Also, the task group said the IRR is further supported by the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA) under Sections 214, 219 and 222 that gives BOC officers the authority to conduct searches, seizures and arrests as well as exercise police powers to determine the presence of dutiable goods."

Moreover, it sets the corresponding responsibilities of the implementing agencies in relation to fuel marking and field testing as follows:

• BIR is responsible for ensuring that petroleum products are marked before removal from the place of manufacture or refinery, into the owner’s tax-paid storage facilities/depots or for distribution into the domestic market, and
• BOC shall ensure that products are properly marked before these are released from Customs custody or its removal from tax-paid storage facilities/depots for distribution into the domestic market.

As to the conduct of random field testing, the BIR shall cover petroleum products from refineries and its attached depots, gasoline stations and other retail outlets while the BOC will supervise vessels, depots, warehouses, tank trucks or other fuel-transporting vehicles.

Petroleum products found without the official marker or those with markers but below the required level shall be presumed to have been withdrawn or imported with the intention to evade the payment of duties and taxes.

These petroleum products may be subject to confiscation and forfeiture as well as filing of the appropriate criminal charges, the task force said. —LBG, GMA News