5/28/2019 Importation Requirements | How to Import Products to Philippines

Legal BlogUncategorized

July 15, 20150

Last year, the Department of Finance (DOF) issued the Department Order 012-2014 (1), introducing a two-phase
accreditation process for importers. All declared importers (organization or individual brokers) must now secure:

1. Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Importer Clearance Certi cate (BIR-ICC)

2. Bureau of Customs (BOC) and Account Management Of ce (AMO) accreditation

Main Goal

Clearly this new accreditation has been introduced to carry out a deep background on the country’s importers. The
previous application – Interim Customs Accreditation Unit (ICARE) – was not totally effective as it was only under the
umbrella of the BOC.  The BIR had no direct control over those accounts what facilitated tax evasion.

This BIR-ICC and BOC-AMO are now requiring all applicants to strictly comply with the most various government
agencies such as : Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), Bureau of Immigration and the above mentioned, BIR and
BOC.

Requirements
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All applicants are required to meet very speci c requirements such as:
5/28/2019 Importation Requirements | How to Import Products to Philippines

Existence of a head of ce or principal place of business in the Philippines (SEC registration)

Full compliance with BIR registration
No cases of returns and payments of tax
No record of any account receivable and delinquent account
No record of any pending tax or related criminal case
Regular use of the electronic ling and payment system (eFPS) in ling all requisite tax returns and in the payment
of taxes
Regular submission of all information returns.

As a consequence, importers who have outstanding tax liabilities with any government agency,  will never be able to
secure this importer accreditation. These liabilities must be settled rst and this is valid for any government agencies.

Process Length

If that all documents required are provided and the application is accepted, the Accounts Receivable Monitoring
Division (ARMD) in charge of the application monitoring will issue the ICC within 2-4 months, depending on the amount
of pending applications. This will be valid for a period of 3 years.

Once the BIR-ICC accreditation is secured, the second phase of the process can start and the ICC must be submitted
along with other supporting documents, to the Account Management Of ce (AMO) of the BOC. The AMO will then
either approve or deny the application. Once the BOC-AMO accreditation is secured the importer can legally import
goods, provided that these do not require registration with other governmental authorities such as the Food and Drug
Administration.

Outlook

While the implementation of stricter policies on the importation process was needed ( especially to combat tax fraud
and evasion), the whole process remains very slow and must be must be streamlined and simpli ed.

If you are an existing company or you are looking to set up a business in the Philippines, our business analysts and legal
consultants can advise your company on how to secure this or other licenses required to do business in the Philippines.

Nicolas Fauchille
Account Executive

12F Sagittarius Building, 111, H.V. Dela Costa Street

Salcedo Village, Makati City 1227
T: +632 856 9631
E: nfauchille@tripleiconsulting.com; W: https://www.tripleiconsulting.com

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 BIR
5/28/2019 Importation Requirements | How to Import Products to Philippines
BIR-ICC
BOC-AMO
Bureau of Customs

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