New Guidelines for Sending Balikbayan Box from the Bureau of Customs

CONSOLIDATED SHIPMENT OF DUTY AND TAX-FREE BALIKBAYAN BOXES

Under Republic Acct No. 10863 or the Customs modernization and tariff Act (CMTA),  Sending balikbayan boxes by Qualified Filipinos While Abroad to their familes and relatives is exempt from payment of duties and taxes up to three times not exceeding Ph 150,000 in a calendar year.

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Tips to ensure that your balikbayan boxes reach its destination

Below are a few tips that you can follow to ensure that you balikbayan boxes reach it's destination.

• Declare all the contents of your balikbayan box in the packing list per item and its corresponding value, if possible, as well as your preferred shipping date. Ask for proper (or extraordinary, if needed) packing, wrapping, strapping, sealing and labeling of your box.
• Secure shipping documents such as official receipt, cargo receipt, invoice, house Bill of Lading, shippers’ declaration or waybill.
• Get the name and contact details of the consolidator’s Philippine counterpart/agent. Be sure that this information is indicated in the shipping documents that you have secured.
• Beware of exceptionally very low rates.
• Beware of persons posing as representatives of freight forwarding companies in your place. Ask for proper identification, check with the freight forwarding companies if they are an employee or authorized to represent the said companies.
• Monitor the movement of your cargo from origin to destination. You may inquire for a tracking scheme or continuously contact the forwarding company. You may ask them to provide you details of your shipment such as the name of shipping line, vessel’s name, voyage number, container number, and expected time of departure and arrival of your package. You can use the Bureau of Customs Balikbayan Box Tracker to monitor your shipment. All Balikbayan boxes sent through Forex Cargo can be track using our Tracking System that you can find here.
• You may also procure insurance for your cargoes. Ask the freight forwarding company on how to go about it.
• Inform your consignee to check your cargo with the Philippine agent even before it arrives. When it does, make sure to inspect the seal and wrapping of the box before signing the receipt of delivery. If you feel it has been tampered with, do not receive the box and ask the delivery agent to have it double-checked.
• Immediately file a complaint for any loss, non-delivery, pilfered or damaged cargo to DTI-FTEB at G/F Floor, UPRC Bldg., 315 Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City or send through email at fteb@dti.gov.ph or call DTI-Direct 751-3330 or 0917-8343330 for assistance. 

Excerpt from the DTI (dti.gov.phhttp://www.dti.gov.ph/faqs#balikbayan-box-shipment)

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List contents of balikbayan boxes, BoC tells OFWs

For fear that smugglers might take advantage of balikbayan boxes to smuggle contraband into the country, the Bureau of Customs (BoC) is encouraging overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to itemize the contents of their package.

“Let us make sure that these smugglers do not use our OFWs and their balikbayan boxes to smuggle contrabands into the country,” Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon told reporters Friday.

Faeldon cited the seized balikbayan box that contain high-powered firearm from the USA recently.

The official also clarified that itemizing the contents of a balikbayan package will not cause delay on its sending and release.

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BOC blames local forwarders for criticism against new balikbayan box regulation

The controversial regulation requires senders to detail the contents of their packages.

But the BOC explained the new rule is for the welfare and safety of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

The agency argued it just wants to protect the valuables of OFWs so it could safely arrive to their loved ones in the Philippines.

The BOC said the false impression arose from the vested interests of local forwarders or deconsolidators

It explained that senders are not required to include the receipt of the items of their packages if its contents are not new or expensive.

Customs officials argued that the new regulation is just an assurance that OFWs will not abuse the privilege given by the government that balikbayan boxes with contents not exceeding P150,000 pesos will not be taxed.

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International Shipping, Parcel Door to Door Delivery To The Philippines

Ship your packages from anywhere in Florida to the Philippines via Forex Cargo.  We have several box sizes to choose from. Balikbayan box sizes.

You can also ship your packages in any form or size and you can use any kind of box if you wish to do so.

Just call (904) 458-SHIP to schedule a pick-up. We have shipments every two weeks.

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Ways to Ship Packages From Florida to the Philippines

Shipping packages from anywhere in Florida to Philippines has never been easier with Forex Cargo. We have services that fits our customers needs.

Our Traditional Balikbayan Box Ocean Cargo is the most realiable in the industry and trusted byPlease click here to see our full range of  Balikbayan Box Services

many . We will deliver your packages door to door to any part of the Philippines. Your packages are protected and secured giving you piece of mind.

Air Cargo services is a faster option that is suitable for your urgent documents, important materials or valuable parcels. We deliver them in Metro Manila from Washington DC every 7 days or so. For more information please click here.

Our branch, Forex Cargo Florida, also offer Dropship, Consolidation and Custom Packing. These service are for people who are in the Philippines who wants to order and purchased online. Read more about it on our products page.

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UNBOXING FILIPINO CULTURE: Close family ties and most loved items in a balikbayan box

IF there lies a single thing that would ultimately define Filipino identity, one would have to fly around the world and back, and still would not know what it would be. That is how diverse and colorful the Filipino culture is. Packed with various traits, characteristics, upbringing, talents and skills; no wonder you cannot confine the Filipino people in a single category. More often than not, you will find traces of them wherever you go.

One of the factors which certainly sets Filipinos apart from the rest, are their close family ties. In a common household, it is not surprising to see extended families living under the same roof. The concept of family not only applies as to what the law perceives—the smallest unit of society. For Filipinos, it is one flesh, blood, and legacy established at birth. What is valued in a family often corresponds with the values that one possess.

These familial ties gave birth to the idea of the “pasalubong.” It is a concept in the Philippines that whenever someone leaves home or travels, he has to bring back some sort of token from his destination upon his return.

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What the Philippines Can Teach us about giving

The rise in the number of Filipinos working in other countries, with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait having the biggest diaspora, has led to the balikbayan box phenomenon. “The balikbayan box was a creative response by shippers who recognized that many OFWs were sending large amounts of items home,” Dr Racelis said.

“They recognised the market demand and responded to it by designing and selling easy-to-assemble, sturdy and stackable boxes of the right size for airline shipping.”

The balikbayan box has become a receptacle for pasalubong even if the person has not yet returned.

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Ship to the Philippines

Send your Balikbayan Packages with Forex Cargo Flordia

FOREX Cargo has been serving every Filipino from every part of the globe for more than three decades. In those years, FOREX continued to grow and expand and keeps on raising the standard of service. We go beyond anything else to protect the boxes of our customers who spent their hard earned money, time and effort to bring love to their relatives in the Philippines.

Filipinos have come to know Forex as the name they can trust when it comes to shipment and delivery of balikbayan box packages to the Philippines.

To learn more about our products and services, please click here.
To get our contact information, please click here.

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No taxes on balikbayan boxes

It is a given fact that Filipinos are everywhere and can be found in almost every nook of this globe. Based on a 2015 survey on overseas Filipinos, there are 2.4 million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the world. These Filipinos, one way or another, find ways to send cash or gifts to their loved ones.

By virtue of Republic Act No. 10863, otherwise known as the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA), in relation to Customs Administrative Order (CAO) No. 5-2016, Balikbayan Boxes sent by Qualified Filipinos While Abroad (QFWA) are no longer subject to duties and taxes. QFWA is a collective term used to refer to non-resident Filipinos, OFWs, and resident Filipinos. The CAO covers exemption from duties and taxes of consolidated shipments of Balikbayan Boxes sent through any port of entry by QFWA to families or relatives in the Philippines.

For purposes of the exemption, a Balikbayan Box refers to a corrugated box or other container up to a maximum volume of 200,000 gross cubic centimeters, often transported by freight forwarders either by sea or air. It shall only contain personal and household effects and shall neither be in commercial quantities nor intended for barter, sale or for hire. Thus, sole proprietorships and juridical entities are not qualified to avail of the benefits.

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