It’s final: No more tax deadline extensions even under MECQ

It’s final: There would be no more tax deadline extensions despite the ongoing modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) in Metro Manila and other parts of the country, according to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

The BIR on Friday (May 22) published Revenue Regulations (RR) 12-2020 signed by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III and Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay, which repealed the section in the earlier RR 11-2020 automatically extending tax deadlines by 15 days whenever COVID-19 lockdown periods were prolonged.

It means the June 14 deadline to pay and file 2019 income tax returns (ITRs) stays, among other deadlines listed down in RR 11-2020, “regardless of any extension or modification of quarantine,” the BIR said.

Since June 14 falls on a Sunday, the actual cut-off date shall be June 15, Monday, under RR 11-2020.

RR 11-2020 had also moved to June 22 the final day for applying for tax amnesty on delinquencies, from the original April 23 deadline and the two previous extensions to May 23 and June 8 following the longer ECQ periods.

Aside from the ITR and tax amnesty deadlines, RR 11-2020 had likewise adjusted cut-off dates for 48 other transactions and documents, including value-added tax (VAT) refunds, and tax credit or refund applications, among others.

Last week, Internal Revenue Deputy Commissioner Arnel S.D. Guballa told the Inquirer that the BIR will no longer further extend tax deadlines despite the implementation of MECQ in COVID-19 hotspots since May 16 because “the government needs funds.”

Amid a recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) last week further slashed the government’s 2020 tax and non-tax revenue collection goal to P2.61 trillion from the projection of P3.17 trillion in March.

The Department of Finance (DOF) this week reported that the BIR’s collections last April amounted to only P71.78 billion, a 69.8-percent drop from P237.93 billion in 2019.

From January to April, the BIR’s tax take slid 25.4 percent year-on-year to P527.41 billion.

The BIR is the country’s biggest tax-collection agency, contributing almost four-fifths of total revenue.

DOF and BIR officials had called on taxpayers to no longer wait for the extended deadlines and settle their dues as soon as possible.

Edited by TSB