Previous Story
Consulate sends mission team to Tinian
|
Posted on Apr 25 2000
The Philippine Consulate is sending a four-man mission team to Tinian on Sunday to process income tax returns of hundreds of Filipino workers on the island.
The mission team, which will include Vice Consul Ronell B. Santos, will also hold other consular services like processing of passport renewals, visa applications, notarials and authentication.
Mr. Santos is urging Filipino workers on Tinian to have their Philippine ITRs ready for filing on Sunday to avoid penalties. The consular mission team will also process income tax returns during the previous years with the corresponding late filing penalty.
For the 1996 ITRs, the Philippine Consulate charges $30; $20 for 1997; and $10 for 1998.
A recently-approved Philippine taxation law requires a penalty of at least three percent of each worker’s annual gross income. The new measure will soon be implemented among Filipino workers here.
Consulate officials are encouraging Filipino workers in the CNMI to file their Philippine income tax returns earlier, in order to avoid being obligated to pay higher penalty which will be derived by deducting three percent from their annual gross income.
Filipino workers on Rota will be allowed extension in the filing of their income taxes by as late as the first two weeks of May, or when the Consulate conducts consular mission on the island, according to Mr. Santos.
Overseas Filipino workers are now exempt from paying income taxes to the Philippine government. The 1997 income tax was the last to be collected by the Philippine government from overseas Filipino workers, seamen and non-resident citizens.
The Philippine Bureau of Internal Revenue exempts Filipino nationals working abroad from paying income taxes starting calendar year 1998. But Filipinos are still required to file ITRs every year. The instruction was specified under the Section 5 of the Revenue Memorandum Circular 1-98.
The tax exemption privilege for OFWs was contained in the Comprehensive Tax Reform which was signed into law by President Ramos November 1997.
Filipinos working abroad have been dubbed the country’s “new breed of heroes,” because of their economic contributions by adding up the Philippine economy’s dollar reserves.
