Business tax exemptions for home-based businesses pushed in Cebu City
A proposed ordinance to exempt home-based businesses with a startup capital of not more than P10,000 from paying a business tax in Cebu City is being proposed in the City Council. | CDN file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Council committee on laws is reviewing an ordinance that would exempt home-based businesses in Cebu City from the payment of a business tax.
Councilor Eugenio Gabuya, Jr. has filed in the City Council a proposed ordinance that would exempt from paying business tax the home-based types of businesses with a startup capital of not more than P10,000 or an annual gross income of not more than P500,000.
“It is for the paramount interest of the residents of Cebu City to grant small and home-based owners a reprieve from paying business tax. Most women residing in Cebu City are putting up small and home businesses to augment their family’s incomes,” said Gabuya.
He said that by exempting the home-based businesses from paying a business tax, these families would no longer be burdened with the loss of parts of their meager income to the taxes.
In the proposed ordinance, home based businesses will still need to acquire the necessary permits such as business permit and sanitary permits for food producing businesses.
The owners will still pay the regulatory fees imposed by the city on these permits, and they will need to renew it regularly.
However, they will no longer pay for the business tax, typically imposed on the city to larger business establishments.
Nanay Merci (not her real name), 47, of Sitio Laray, Barangay Inayawan, who sells home-baked brownies to restaurants in the city, said she welcomed this ordinance and hoped for it to be passed.
She said her business was small and she did not earn much from it as she could only do so much in her own kitchen, but it had been a steady income generating source for her family and a big help to their finances.
Her husband is an office worker with a middle-range pay.
“Maayo gyod unta di nako mobayad business tax. Makapalit na guro kog bag-ong oven ana kay kining ako daan na. (That would be good if I no longer pay business tax. I can buy a new oven because mine is already old),” she said.| dbs
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