No tax filing deadline extension past June 14
THE deadline for filing income tax returns is June 14, regardless of whether the coronavirus quarantine is extended or not.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has finalized the deadline, countermanding its previous directive that would have allowed a 15-day reset in case the quarantine is prolonged.
The revision, released on Friday, was recommended by BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay and approved by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd.
The June 14 due date stays “regardless
of any extension or modification of quarantine,” the ruling stated.
The same no- extension clause applies to the deadlines for other taxes.
The government can no longer afford to further postpone collecting taxes. BIR collections amounted to only P71.78 billion in April, 69.83 percent lower than the previous year’s P237.93 billion.
In the first four months of the year, the bureau’s total collection was P527.41 billion, which was 25.4 percent or P179.37 billion below the actual amount collected for the same period in 2019.
A concerned Department of Finance attributed the slump to “community quarantine measures in Luzon and other parts of the country that have also prompted the agency to extend the deadlines for the filing and payment of income and other taxes to next month.”
The BIR has already cut its collections goal for this year to P2.26 trillion, 96 percent lower than the previous goal of P2.5 trillion.
The government’s expected revenue collection for this year was also adjusted downward by the Development Budget Coordination Committee to P2.61 trillion or 13.6 percent of the country’s overall gross domestic product.
While the BIR stood firm on a June 14 tax deadline, the Energy Regulatory Commission ( ERC) on Friday allowed electricity customers to pay their light bills in instalments.
Customers who consume 200 kilowatt hours (kWh) or less a month in February can pay in instalments of up to six equal monthly payments, with the first payment to be made not earlier than June 15, and without penalties, interests and other fees.
Customers who used up more 200 kWh in February are entitled to four equal instalments.
The latest ERC advisory covers all bills with due dates falling within the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and modified ECQ period.
Subsequent instalments for bills will be due every 15th of the month beginning July until fully paid and distribution utilities shall notify their customers of the monthly instalment falling due.
The agency also suspended the collection of the Universal Charge- Environmental Charge equivalent to P0.0025 per kWh until further notice.
The utilities were directed “to conduct actual meter readings and thereafter issue a new billing reflecting the actual consumption and the corresponding amount due, not later than June 8, 2020, except when actual reading is not possible due to the implementation of community quarantine.”
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s biggest power distributor, said it would comply with the ERC directive.
“We will support the implementation using various information materials and platforms to make it easy to understand. Rest assured that we only have our customers’ satisfaction and interest in mind as we implement this order,” Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said in a message.
The distributors were ordered to submit their a power supply contract utilization report, record of payments received from customers and record of payments made to suppliers, covering the March 16 to May 31 period, via email at tariffs@ erc. gov. ph not later than June 30.
The ERC also said it would be adopting a combination of work- from- home and skeletonworkforce arrangements until June 30, consistent with the guidelines from the Civil Service Commission.