Workers ask BIR to return P20-B in ‘illegally collected’ tax

By: Inquirer.net June 04,2018 - 08:15 PM

ALU-TUCP is asking the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to comply with a Supreme Court (SC) decision to return “illegally collected” tax from minimum-wage earners. /Inquirer file photo

Workers on Monday called out the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for not complying with a Supreme Court (SC) decision which ordered the bureau to return “illegally collected” tax from minimum-wage earners.

Stressing the urgent need to mitigate the impact of rising prices of goods and commodities, the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) demanded the immediate processing of tax refund claims worth P20 billion to minimum-wage workers.

The ALU-TUCP, in a statement, said that the BIR, an attached agency of the Department of Finance (DOF), was “unlawfully” collecting tax from minimum-wage workers in 2008.

The group recalled that for seven months in 2008, the BIR collected taxes on the wage, bonuses and other benefits from minimum-wage workers despite their exemption from paying taxes under Republic Act No. 9502.

The labor group said that on January 24, 2017, the SC issued a 56-page decision stating that minimum-wage workers should not be taxed because RA 9502, which became effective on June 17, 2008, exempted them from taxes.

“R.A 9502 became effective June 17, 2008. However, the BIR issued Revenue Regulation 10-2008 and have collected income tax from workers for 7 months before the agency suspended their collection,” it said.

Now, the labor group stressed that the BIR should return to minimum-wage workers P20-billion, which includes “the annual legal interest the money earned from 2008 to 2017.”

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TAGS: ask, return, tax, workers

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