Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 2) — The government has officially started marking fuel products to trace proper tax payments.
In a statement, the Bureau of Customs said they started the live marking of petroleum products in Mabini, Batangas on Friday. Fuel stored at the Seaoil Bulk Terminal are the first batch to undergo the marking scheme.
The Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act that took effect on Jan. 1, 2018 required fuel marking, just as the law raised the excise taxes on oil products.
Under the scheme, imported and locally-refined fuel will be infused with a low concentration of dyes after paying the right taxes. Fuel products will then be subject to random field testing, which is the government’s way of catching oil smugglers. This covers gasoline, diesel, and kerosene stored in all depots or terminals.
Before this, authorities conducted a simulation at the Subic Freeport Zone.
Officials from the BOC, the Department of Finance, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue marked Seaoil fuel together with representatives from fuel marker supplier SICPA-SGS Philippines, which will provide the dyes and carry out tests in depots, tank trucks, and even retail gasoline stations to check compliance.
Marked fuels will have to match the same concentration of dyes which was injected to the products, confirming that the oil went through proper import channels and paid the right duties.
The DOF estimates about ₱20-40 billion annual revenues are not collected from smuggled fuel.
