Visa Question Duty and Tax Exemption

I received the following information from my shipping agent - this may be of some help. I note that this thread had previously referred to 'Tax Exemption Certificate', but it is not clear if 'duties' and 'taxes' are treated seperately. I am also curious about the relative benefit or otherwise of the shipment being in the name of the Foreigner immigrant spouse, or in the name of the returning Filipino citizen spouse? I had read somewhere that only returning citizens are elligible for waiver of duty payments on household items.


PHILIPPINES INBOUND PROCEDURE


Please find below additional information on import customs requirements and procedures which we highly recommend you read thoroughly.


CUSTOMS PROCEDURES


ALL incoming shipments are subject to payment of duties & taxes, unless the client has received a tax exemption certificate form the Department of Finance. This must be issued by the time the shipment arrives into the Philippines. Only the following visas can avail of a full tax exemption.


- Holders of 9G (Pre Arranged Employment Visa), 13G & 13A (Special Non Quota Immigrant Visa), 9D (Treaty Trader’s Visa), 47A2 (Investor/ EPZA Visa or Foreign consultant’s visa), SRRV, EO226 visa (BOI Registered company – Regional HO), PRA (Philippine Retirement Authority)


FOREIGNERS


Despite our best efforts the customs clearance process takes approximately 7-10 working days from the time documents are filed with the Bureau of Customs and this can only be done after your effects arrive at the port. Please note that you have only a limited amount of free storage at the port.


Please note that all incoming shipments into the Philippines are subject to the payment of duties & taxes, unless the transferee is holding a proper visa, not a tourist visa, at the time their shipment arrives. It can take up to 4 months for a foreigner to acquire their work visa so most transferees actually end up paying the Customs duty/tax.


If the client has a work visa then an application for the tax exemption must be submitted to the Department of Finance. This process takes one week and we should have the tax exemption letter before the shipment arrives. AGS can apply on your behalf, we need the original passport and valid work visa, and we charge usd100.


CASH BOND


If you do not have a valid visa by the time your shipment arrives you can apply for a Cash Bond. Basically you will pay 150% of your estimated Customs duties and taxes up front. Your shipment will be cleared and when you have your valid visa you can then apply for the return of your Cash Bond.


Please note that If the visa is still not approved within 3 months, the bond is extendable for another 3 months. We charge for this service, usd100, and are not fully liable for the return of the bond. The return of the bond can take up to six months. We do not recommend this option as there is no garuntee that you will have your bond returned.

 

Which one of these visas is the returning Filipino citizen?

 

If you have an SRRV you are also entitled to import your household goods (not a car) duty free.

 

My neighbor tried to bring in a 40 foot container of his household goods using his SRRV and found the shipping company/port charged ridiculous storage fees.
The process for the PRA paper work was going to take a couple of weeks. He surrendered and just paid the taxes.
If you can find a shipper that offers door to door you might be able to avoid that problem.

 

I have been trying to look into Importing a Car from the US. It would appear that the Philippines Government all but makes it financially impossible with all of the Taxes added to bringing in a Car along with very restrictive requirements in an attempt to force people to buy locally produced ****boxes! Sucks, because looking at the (overly inflated) prices of US Cars here already (most retrofitted with wheezy Jap engines along with damage/rust issues etc) it would nice if you could 'simply' import a good quality LHD Car direct from the US, which I am sure could work to the financial benefit of the Philippines Governments if they allowed local Companies to avail of the (Low Volume) Importation of Used Cars along with Spare Parts to suit... "Money to be made imho..."

 

It will be a long time before anything changes.
From Huffington Post
The problem, however, is that the Philippines is largely an oligarchy-disguised-as-a-democracy. What it needs is to become a genuine “deepened” democracy. The countries’ elected offices are dominated by 178 political dynasties, which control 73 out of 81 provinces in the country. As many as 70 percent of Filipino legislators hail from political dynasties. The economic landscape is equally oligarchic: the 40 richest families gobbled up to 76 percent of newly-created growth in recent years. Recent growth has barely ameliorated double-digit poverty and unemployment rates.

 

Links for the over-priced Cars or Links for Importing? I am on many Facebook Buy & Sell Car pages looking around at what is available, could PM as that would not be relevant here, that to you or can post pages regards Importing Cars if that is what you meant?

*Edit:
Ohhh *LINK* between the costings you mean?