BURS Decries Tax Amnesty Low Uptake
Pauline Dikuelo | Tuesday December 7, 2021 06:00
Tax Amnesty Scheme seeks to ease the burden on taxpayers with outstanding tax liabilities by granting them an opportunity to clear the total principal tax owed in exchange for a write-off of interest and penalties charged during tax periods prior to July 1, 2021.
The scheme, which will come to an end on December 31 this year was introduced in July this year after the Minister of Finance and Economic Development proposed it for Income tax and Value Added Tax when presenting this year’s budget speech.
BURS commissioner-general Jeanette Makgolo recently told the media that BURS is open to taxpayers making payment plans adding that those who enter into such an arrangement can enjoy the scheme if they have fully paid their principal liabilities before the end of the scheme. “Schemes like this do not occur often, I plead with those taxpayers who have not yet taken advantage of the scheme to do so at the earliest opportunity,” she said.
As the filing season is ongoing, individuals whose only source of income from employment and does not exceed P480,000 per annum are not required to file returns.
Individual taxpayers that have not already filed their returns are reminded to do so at the earliest opportunity to avoid inconveniences at the last minute. Meanwhile, it was earlier announced that the exemption threshold for PAYE will increase and reduce PAYE or Personal Income Tax for all individuals. Previously, individuals earning P3,000 per month were not required to pay tax but now with the new law, this threshold shall increase to P4,000 per month. So any income between P4,001 and P7,000 per month will be taxed at 5% whilst that between P7,001and P10,000 will be taxed 12.5%.
Income between P10,001 and P13,000 per month will suffer tax at 18.75% whilst 25% will apply monthly on income more than P13,000 per month.