10% VAT on the Importation of Filmstrips

September 14, 1988 BIR RULING NO. 441-88 101 (a) 000-00 441-88 Gentlemen : This refers to your letter dated March 11, 1988, requesting a ruling that your importation of filmstrips (samples submitted) is exempt from the value-added tax (VAT). It is represented that your company is engaged in the importation and wholesale of general reference materials; that your imported article, being books, is exempt from the value-added tax; that now, you are planning to import educational filmstrips together with catalogs from which selections can be made; and that since these filmstrips will perform a function similar to, if not better than, that of a reference book, you believe that filmstrips are likewise exempt from the value-added tax. In reply, please be informed that your imported filmstrip, does not fall within the purview of "books" or "newspaper, magazine, review or bulletin which appears at regular intervals with fixed prices for subscription and sale and which is not devoted principally to the publication of advertisements." Such being the case, said imported article, is subject to the 10% value-added tax based on the total value used by the Bureau of Customs in determining tariff and customs duties, plus customs duties, excise taxes, if any, and other charges, such tax to be paid by the importer prior to the release of such goods from customs custody pursuant to Section 101(a) of the Tax Code, as amended by E.O. No. 273 and as implemented by Section 7 of Revenue Regulations No. 5-87. aisadc Very truly yours, (SGD.) BIENVENIDO A. TAN, JR. Commissioner