Two lawmakers—Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman and Senator Francis Tolentino —on Sunday called on the Bureau of Internal Revenue to consider the extension of the April 15 deadline on the filing of income tax returns.
“This pandemic is affecting our way of life, and the attitude should not be ‘business as usual’ for the BIR. Should we add burden to the people who have always been thinking of ways to keep their families safe at times like this?,” he said.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Finance said the BIR cannot push back the date of filing for income tax returns since it was set under the law.
“We should find ways of easing the daily burdens of our citizens. There is community quarantine in Metro Manila until April 14. The people are more focused on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and not about the problem of paying taxes,” Hataman said.
“I suggest the BIR open discussions for setting the tax filing deadline after April 14 to give the people enough breathing space to set their affairs in order. Let us see the results of the government’s anti-COVID-19 measures. Besides, there would be queueing in the filing. We don’t want people to spread the virus in this kind of activity,” he said.
Tolentino, meanwhile, said that an extension would be a sigh of relief for registered taxpayers in Metro Manila and other affected areas. He said this could spell a huge difference to struggling individuals and businesses.
“It is my firm belief that the Government has the responsibility to aid our overburdened taxpayers who continue to shoulder the brunt of the outbreak’s impact on the market,” Tolentino said.
President Rodrigo R. Duterte recently declared the implementation of the community wide quarantine in Metro Manila and banned land, water and air travel from March 15 to April 14, subject to review.
He said this would give affected taxpayers relief as they will be reeling from the health, mobility and economic challenges during these times which will affect their ability to file their returns and pay their taxes.
Tolentino recently wrote a letter addressed to the BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay.
He noted that the COVID-19 outbreak may cause losses to the Philippine economy amounting to US$1.939 billion in its gross domestic product (GDP) and may result to the loss of up to 252,000 jobs, according to the recent report of the Asian Development Bank on “The Economic Impact of the COVID-19 Outbreak on Developing Asia.”
In particular, the country’s tourism industry is set to lose P42.9 billion due to COVID-19, with its supporting industries – the hotel, restaurant and retail – also struggling to stay afloat.
Under the law, the National Internal Revenue Code, the deadline for the filing of the income tax return is set on or before April 15 of each year. However, it also provides that in meritorious cases, the BIR Commissioner may grant a reasonable extension of time for filing returns of income.
“With the current situation, there is also a possibility of gathering a large number of people on the day of the deadline of filing tax returns, which poses a health risk. As such, this is a meritorious case that calls for an extension,” the lawmaker explained, referring to the fact that that there are nearly 12 million people living in Metro Manila.
He said that other countries, such as Italy and China, have already extended the deadlines for the filing of their tax returns to offer relief to their taxpayers. On the other hand, in the United Kingdom and in the State of California, they allow employees and companies affected by COVID-19 to apply for an extension of the period as long as certain requirements are met.
Moreover, the United States federal government is currently considering the proposal to move its tax filing deadline to ease the economic strains brought about by the global outbreak.
“I believe that all measures should be taken to alleviate the plight of the Filipino people especially during these trying times,” Tolentino said.
To date, there are over a hundred confirmed cases of the COVID-19 in the country, according to the Department of Health.
Meanwhile, there are 138,585 cases of the coronavirus worldwide in 132 countries, which resulted to 5,083 deaths, as of March 13, 2020.