MANILA – According to Malacañang, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has ordered the abolition of the Department of Finance (DOF) ‘s One-Stop-Shop Inter-Agency Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center (OSS Center) in line with his ongoing rightsizing efforts.
This developed after Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin signed Administrative Order (AO) No. 4 on Feb. 20.
In a statement, Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil said the OSS Center’s functions of processing and issuing tax clearance certificates (TCCs), and duty drawbacks will be transferred to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs (BOC), respectively.
“All other assets and liabilities of the OSS Center shall be transferred to the [DOF] in accordance with pertinent auditing laws, rules, and regulations except all cash separately held in trust or otherwise by the OSS Center, which shall be directly remitted to the National Treasury,” the AO read.
Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno was the one who recommended to President Marcos to abolish the OSS Center.
Aside from the administration’s push to rightsize the government, Diokno said they found some OSS Center officials and employees to have committed several tax credit scams involving billions of pesos over the years.
He also pointed out that the OSS Center has not processed and issued tax credit certificates since 2016.
“It is not practical for the government to provide for its budget every year since it does not perform its functions anymore,” he said.
AO No. 4 provides that OSS Center personnel affected by the move will “receive separation benefits…unless they are appointed to other positions in the government.”
The OSS Center was created under AO No. 266 for the orderly and expeditious processing of tax credits and duty drawbacks under various laws.
AO No. 4 took note that “there is a continuing need for institutional strengthening and promotion of the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in the delivery of public service across all the executive departments and offices, consistent with the rightsizing of the Administration, including the rationalization of functions and activities carried out by the public sector.”
“[It] is the policy of the National Government to rationalize the functional structures of agencies with complementary mandates and promote coordination efficiency and organization coherence in the bureaucracy,” the AO said.
Within 90 working days upon the effectivity of the AO, the DOF Secretary “shall fully implement the abolition, including the disposition and transfer of the OSS Center’s functions, personnel and assets as may be necessary.”
