PERSONS with disability will be entitled to at least 20-percent discount from establishments relative to the sale of goods and services under the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 10754, the Bureau of Internal Revenue said.
In a revenue regulation signed by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Revenue Commissioner Caesar Dulay, PWDs will also be exempted from the 12-percent value-added tax.
RA 10754 is titled “An Act Expanding the Benefits and Privileges of Persons with Disability” relative to the tax privileges of persons with disability and tax incentives for establishments granting sales discount, and prescribing the guidelines for its availment, which amended Revenue Regulations No. 1-2009.
BIR said qualified PWD should be entitled to claim at least 20-percent discount from hotels and similar lodging establishments, restaurants and recreation centers; theaters, cinema houses, concert halls, circuses, carnivals and other similar places of culture, leisure and amusement; all drugstores regarding purchase of generic and branded medicine; and medical and dental services including diagnostic and laboratory fees, including X-rays, computerized tomography scans and blood tests.
Also included are professional fees of attending doctors in all government facilities or all private hospitals and medical facilities subject to guidelines to be issued by the Health department, in coordination with the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. or PhilHealth.
PWDs can also avail themselves of the 20-percent discount on domestic air and sea transportation based on the actual fare.
For promotional fares, PWDs can avail themselves of the establishment’s offered discount or the 20-percent discount “whichever is higher and more favorable,” the BIR said.
The 20-percent discount is applicable also to land transportation based on actual fare, such as buses and jeepneys, taxis, Asian utility vehicles, shuttle services and public railways such as Light Rail Transit, Metro Rail Transit, Philippine National Railways, and other similar infrastructure that will be constructed, established and operated by public or private entities.
Discount for the funeral and burial services for the death of the PWD can also be availed of.
But the BIR emphasized that any person who would shoulder the funeral and burial expenses of the deceased PWD must present a death certificate and the identification card of the PWD.
If these are not available, the original or certified true copy of the proof of registration from the issuing local government unit should be presented.
“Such expenses shall cover the purchase of casket or urn, embalming, hospital morgue, transport of the body to intended burial site in the place of origin, but shall exclude obituary publication and the cost of the memorial lot,” the BIR said.
The agency said all other goods and services sold by the discounting establishments not included in the enumerated provided by law should not be considered for the 20-percent discount privilege.
As an example, the BIR said a P1,120 worth of sale of goods and services should be deducted with a 12-percent VAT (P120).
Then, the amount of P1,000 should be deducted again by the 20-percent discount, resulting in a total amount due of P800.
The BIR also said the cost of the discount for PWD should be allowed as a deduction from gross income for the same taxable year that the discount was granted, provided that the total amount of the claimed tax deduction net of VAT, if applicable, should be included in their gross sales receipts for tax purposes.
“The foregoing privileges granted to PWD shall not be claimed if the said PWD claims a higher discount as may be granted by the commercial establishment and/or under other existing laws or in combination with other discount programs…,” the BIR said.
Thus, a PWD who is at the same time a senior citizen can only claim one 20-percent discount on a particular sales transaction.
The BIR also said sales of any goods and services under Section 3 of these regulations to PWD shall be exempt from VAT.
To ensure the full entitlement of the person with disability to the discount prescribed in the Act, sellers are precluded from billing any VAT to the PWD.
The BIR, however, warned that those found violating these regulations would be subject to corresponding penalties under the provisions of the Tax Code of 1997.
These include fine of not less than P50,000 but not exceeding P100,000 or imprisonment of not less than six months but not more than two years for the first offense.
Any subsequent violation, a fine of not less than P100,000 but not exceeding P200,000 or imprisonment for not less than two years but not more than six years will apply.