SEPT 29, 2015

NR # 3972B

House leader wants tax exemption of balikbayan boxes

raised to $2,000 from $500
A House leader is seeking to raise the tax and customs duties exemption of balikbayan boxes from
US$500 to US$2,000, and the personal effects of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and other returning
Filipino migrants or residents abroad whose value does not exceed P100,000.
Rep. Nicanor M. Briones (Party-list, AGAP), Chairman of the House Committee on Overseas
Workers Affairs, said his proposal is in recognition of the immense contribution of OFWs to the countrys
economy through their remittances which last year alone reached US$24.3 billion.
Briones said Filipinos abroad slowly and patiently fill their balikbayan boxes that will travel
many miles across countries and continents to bring joy and a piece of themselves to their families,
relatives and friends.
These boxes, symbolic of their love, do not contain gold, guns and riches. They are packed with
clothes, simple household items, books, soap, toothpaste and other things the OFWs have lovingly
collected in the course of the year, said Briones.
But now, Briones lamented even this small, simple gesture of affection of OFWs has come under
the radar of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), with the aim of collecting taxes from the OFW balikbayan
boxes.
In House Bill 6156 or the proposed OFW Balikbayan Box Law, Briones sought the amendment
of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) and the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines to
raise the exemption of OFWs balikbayan boxes and personal effects from tax and custom duties.
The proposal provides that the value of the contents of balikbayan boxes shall be exempted from
customs and duties if their value does not exceed US$2,000.
Likewise personal effects of OFWs and other returning Filipino migrants or residents abroad
whose value does not exceed P100,000 shall also be exempted from tax and customs duties, the bill
provides.
Every six years after the effectivity of the Act, the bill provides that the values herein stated shall
be adjusted to their present values using the Consumer Price Index as published by the Philippine
Statistics Authority (PSA).
The bill now pending at the Committee on ways and Means, of which Briones is a Vice Chairman,
provides it shall be the declared State policy to afford full protection to labor, local and overseas,
organized and unorganized, and to promote full employment and equality of employment opportunities
for all.
Likewise, the measure provides the State shall affirm labor as a primary social, economic force
and shall protect the rights of workers and promote their welfare. Hence, the State shall assist to uplift the
socio-economic status of OFWs by providing adequate benefits and privileges, the bill provides.
Lastly, the bill mandates the Department of Finance (DOF), Bureau of Customs (BOC) and
Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to promulgate the necessary rules and regulations within 60 days from
the approval of the Act. (30) rbb