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Bill Increasing Exemption of Tax on Bonuses Passes Second Reading

The House of Representatives, last September 8, 2014, approved on second reading Substitute Bill No. 4970, with full title, “An Act Increasing the Ceiling for the Total Exclusion from Gross Income of 13th Month Pay and Other Benefits to Seventy Thousand Pesos (Php 70,000.00), Amending for the Purpose Section (32)(7)(E) of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as Amended.”

This is a consolidation of twelve bills filed by various authors at the House of Representatives, including House Bill No. 4456 filed by Cong. Rene L. Relampagos, of the first district of the province of Bohol, which he filed last May 21, 2014. In his version of the bill, Cong. Relampagos proposed that the tax exemption ceiling be pegged at Php 75,000.00.

In a previous statement, the lawmaker explained that, “If passed, the law will correct the impractical and unanticipated result in the application of the NIRC to employees who are classified as salary grade 18 positions which is a far-cry from the original spirit of the tax law. Simply then, all employees and workers – in both the private and public sectors, will be receiving the full amount of their bonuses if it is less than Php 70,000.00.”

“Ultimately,” Cong. Relampagos continued, “we strengthen the purchasing power of the working class, we reduce the gap between salary and the increasing cost of living of the day and we affirm the intent of the Tax Code which was passed seventeen (17) years ago. Having passed the second reading, it will not be long that it will also pass third reading at the House.”

In order to become a law, however, the Senate has to pass a similar bill. Thereafter, the two versions will be consolidated and submitted to the President for final approval. To date, three senators filed similar bills.

“I earnestly hope that this proposed measure will be passed and approved before the bonus season this December in order to have the impact it seeks to achieve. It’s already the ‘ber’ months after all,” the Congressman said.

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On a different note, the House Committee on Tourism, chaired by Cong. Relampagos, had a public hearing last September 10, 2014, at Batasan Hills. Quezon City. In agenda were two house resolutions and one house bill.

Specifically, they discussed: (1) the issue of the alleged clash between the rights of indigenous peoples over ancestral lands in relation to business ventures which affect tourism projects in Palawan; (2) the proposal for ‘volun-tourism’ which will encourage grassroots participation in tourism activities in the local scene and; (3) the proposed amendment to the documentary requirements in order to qualify for the Department of Tourism and Department of Public Works and Highways (DOT-DPWH) Convergence Program.

Briefly discussed also was the proposed bill on Farm Tourism which has just finished technical working group discussions.

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