MANILA – No tax or duty is being imposed on donations coming in for areas hit by super typhoon Yolanda, but the Bureau of Internal Revenue is advising all donors to coordinate with the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) or the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to ensure the tax-free status, allow the government to track and acknowledge all donations, and guarantee they go only to victims.
BIR chief Kim Jacinto-Henares made this clear Thursday as a flood of donations from at least 36 countries and international organizations led by the UN have come in the past several days, along with spontaneous acts of mercy by private volunteer groups, companies and concerned Filipinos from abroad.
The government, said Henares, will shoulder the 12-percent value-added tax by way of a tax expenditure, so it’s important, especially for major donor initiatives, to coordinate with the relief agencies accredited with DSWD or the NDRRMC.
“Please coordinate with DSWD about the VAT because they have a mechanism to address that… The donation to NDRRMC is also duty exempt; if there’s going to be any VAT, it’s going to be supported via the GAA, it’s going to be paid for by the national government via tax expenditure fund.”
She added, “There’s really no tax because it’s going to be shouldered by the government by budget support by as long as the donation is made to NDRRMC. Now, for donations made to accredited relief agencies of DSWD…It’s the same—it’s duty exempt . . .They should coordinate with DSWD so the VAT can properly be answered for.”
Asked if government is keeping track of the donations, she replied, “yes, that’s why they have to go through customs. We keep track of it and make sure it’s a legitimate donation. Unfortunately, there are some people . . . I mean, as far as we are concerned, everyone is in the mode of helping people but unfortunately, as you can see from experience in Tacloban, there are people who take advantage of the misery of other people."
Smugglers, keep out
Henares added: "So what we want to do is provide assistance to those who need it and really give the benefit [tax breaks] of all these things to those people who are really helping, and not to the people who are lawless like smugglers. Because we know there are people who will take advantage of it. Although that should be our real concern at this time, but…. although everyone is paying attention to the people affected directly, if we [BIR, finance agencies] do not also manage this, it will affect the other farmers, other entities [that] need protection from the government."
She said "The system has to be put in place and customs people and DOF people have put a one-stop shop in the ports where DSWD and NDRRMC are. From what I understand we have been doing this every time. It’s been going on smoothly as far as DSWD is concerned. Of course, there are some people who encounter difficulty because they have never done this. Some people who will just suddenly bring in things without coordinating with others, [and of course, problems are bound to arise]. They should coordinate with DSWD and NDRRMC.
Considering this is the biggest logistical and humanitarian challenge for disaster-prone Philippines, Henares said the avalanche of aid is understandable. This is why, she stressed, all those who help should be acknowledged and their task facilitated. “We have to keep track and eventually say thank you. We have to acknowledge aid coming in. If we don’t keep track, how do we acknowledge; when people say they provided aid, we want to say show them it really went to people. So we want to keep track to make sure aid being brought to us is not wasted.”
source: interaksyon.com
