Cusi urges outlets to follow implementation of fuel excise tax

January 8, 2019

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi stressed the urgency for all petroleum retail outlets to follow  implementing guidelines on the second tranche of fuel excise tax, or face closure.

“The Secretary has been very clear - cooperate, don’t violate. We have been actively explaining and clarifying the implementation process for this second tranche. It is better to follow rather than see your outlets closed just as the new year is starting,” DOE ( Department of Energy) spokesperson Felix William  Fuentebella said in a press briefing held Monday.

Oil Industry Management Bureau OIC-Director Rino Abad and Assistant Director Rodela Romero said  since last year, the DOE has undertaken steps to ensure stringent monitoring of inventories in anticipation of the second tranche’s implementation.

A DOE directive dated September 11, 2018 required oil companies to submit per-depot and per-product ending inventory reports as of December 31, 2018 and daily withdrawal reports of such ending inventories starting January 1, 2019 until its full exhaustion.

This ensures that the first tranche of excise tax will continue to be imposed on the 2018 ending inventories, while the second tranche of excise tax shall be imposed only on new inventories imported or produced from local refineries in 2019.

Oil firms were also required to submit a notarized yearend inventory report (as of December 31 2018) covering petroleum products with the old excise tax rate. The reports are to be submitted by 8 January 2019 in time for the submission of the official registry book to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

“These will help the DOE validate the exhaustion of old inventories. We also requested for Last Withdrawal Certificates stamped by the BIR as ‘Stocks On-Hand Prior to Applicable Date of Effectivity’. These would indicate the last removals of petroleum products subject to the old tax rates. On the other hand, the First Withdrawal Certificates with no BIR stamp would indicate the first removals of petroleum products with the new excise tax rate,” Romero expounded.

On violations,  Abad stressed that aside from breaching tax laws, violators may also face criminal charges, particularly estafa.

Other measures being carried out by the department include the inspection of retail outlets that already implemented the new excise tax, and the issuance of show-cause orders to give concerned retail outlets the opportunity to explain. DMS