DOE: 444 retail stations start implementing second tranche of Train law

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Energy (DOE) on Thursday announced that 444 retail stations nationwide are now imposing the second round of excise taxes on petroleum products under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) law.

“To date, the DOE-OIMB (Oil Industry Management Bureau) has already received 444 reports on those retail stations implementing the second tranche of Train law,” the DOE said in a statement.

The DOE said 369 of these outlets are from Petron Corp., 46 from Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and 29 from Flying V.

As mandated by the Train law, fuel excise taxes increased by P2.5 per liter in 2018, and the levy is scheduled to increase by P2 and P1.5 per liter in 2019 and 2020, respectively, for a total P6 excise tax hike over three years.

The department, however, noted that a retail outlet’s imposition of excise tax depends on the exhaustion of its existing 2018 inventories.

“Only new inventories in 2019, directly imported or locally produced by refineries, are covered by the second tranche of excise tax,” the DOE said.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi also vowed to continue monitoring retail outlets, particularly those that have already implemented the second tranche of excise tax on fuel products.

“We are ensuring that our consumers do not become subjects of profiteering. We are issuing Show-Cause Orders (SCOs) to the concerned retail outlets for them to explain their implementation of the second tranche of excise taxes,” Cusi said.

“In addition, we are also validating the prices of their fuel products to check whether they have already imposed the second wave of excise taxes,” he added./gsg