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Customs collections increase $5.9M in FY 2014
Collections at the Division of Customs Services increased by 20.7 percent from $28.5 million in fiscal year 2013 to $34.4 million in fiscal year 2014.
Customs director Jose C. Mafnas attributes the $5.9-million revenue hike to stricter enforcement of regulations and an uptick in cigarette tax in the last quarter of the fiscal year.
“I’m surprised that we were able to increase our collections last fiscal year. I was totaling our monthly collections and was pleasantly surprised that we were able to collect that much. We did a lot of changes at Customs on how to inspect things and that strict application of our mandate worked.”
Acting press secretary Ivan Blanco congratulated Mafnas and Department of Finance Secretary Larissa Larson for a job well done at Customs.
“We’re very pleased with his [Mafnas] performance and I guess his staff also who are supporting his leadership. Those are the people really who should be given commendation as well as director Mafnas himself and Secretary Larson. That’s all we need. Keep on doing what the law allows us to do and we should be fine,” he said.
Mafnas, who returned to helm the division after 10 years at Revenue and Tax, said more stringent enforcement led to the discovery of fraudulent transactions that included undervaluing of imported goods like alcohol, cigarettes, flat-screen televisions, and even second-hand automobiles.
Some of the modus operandi of unscrupulous importers include declaring 60-inch flat-screen TV sets for only $40 each and declaring other electronic products as models made in 2003 instead of 2008.
Mafnas said he put a stop to accepting “undervalued invoices” at face value by ordering Customs enforcers to check everything and anything importers bring to the CNMI.
For secondhand automobiles, he said Customs now base the price of cars coming in on their bluebook value.
If a Customs enforcer suspects an importer to be up to no good, Mafnas said, he is allowed to inspect the container by unloading at customs “100 percent.”
Currently, Customs has 52 staff and is expecting five new recruits to join the division soon.
The Division of Customs Service is responsible for customs and baggage inspection and other related matters in the CNMI.
