The Bureau of Customs recently issued Customs Memorandum Order No. 25-2011 or the Guidelines for the Duty and Tax Free Importation of Books. The said memorandum contains guidelines on the coverage and operational provisions of the duty and tax free importation of books under Section 105 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines for uniformity in the treatment of book importations.
The full article can be read here. Copy of the Customs Memorandum Order No. 25-2011 is downloadable form the NBDB website.
a couple of friends have had troubles with customs recently when they were claiming books (purchased from book depository) from the post office.
ReplyDeleteguidelines don't take into account individual books purchased from abroad -- applying for the tax exemption costs more (and takes days for processing, and you have to go all the way to the port area) than the "tax" demanded by the customs officials on the spot.
I don't get why they're differentiating types of books, or why they're putting up all these guidelines, either. A book is a book, period. It's really disheartening how BOC is making it hard for people to get books. I don't get what part of "books are tax-exempt" they don't understand.
for us book lovers, we can sing a line from the song price tag. "it's not about the money, money, money!"
ReplyDeleteit is not quite the same to others.