COVID-19 updates (SyCipLaw Bulletin # 12): Further extension to pay taxes; Other COVID-19 related issuances

May 14, 2020

The following updates, among others, were covered by SyCipLaw’s bulletin to its clients:

A. The Secretary of Finance has issued Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 10-2020 dated April 9, 2020 to amend RR No. 7-2020 “in consideration of the extension of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) period until April 30, 2020.”

RR No. 10-2020 (i) further extends the due dates for the filing and submission of documents and payment of taxes falling within the extended period in RR 7-2020and (ii) extends the filing and payment of the annual income tax of corporations for fiscal year ending January 31, 2020 originally due on May 15, 2020.

B. On April 8, 2020, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has adopted a resolution requiring the “mandatory disclosure of personal information of positive COVID-19 cases” to facilitate contact-tracing.

According to a news report, “[t]he IATF [has also transferred] the responsibility of … contact tracing from the Department of Health (DOH) to the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD)". The DOH and OCD will “enter into a "data-sharing agreement" for the contact tracing activities, guided by the provisions of Republic Act No. 10173 or the Data Privacy Act.”

C. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released guidelines for the Submission or Filing of Securities Deposit During the COVID-19 Outbreak and the Enhanced Community Quarantine (SEC Memorandum Circular No. 11 Series of 2020 dated March 26, 2020)

The SEC also issued a Notice stating that the initial 30-day grace period for the payment of loans as provided in Section 4(aa) of the Bayanihan Act shall apply to “all loans with principal and/or interest falling due within the extended Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) period” from March 17, 2020 to April 30, 2020. Financing companies, lending companies, and microfinance NGOs are directed by the SEC to “extend the 30-day grace period to borrowers with payments due within the extended ECQ period,” in accordance with the Section 4(aa) of the Bayanihan Act and its implementing rules.

The full text of the bulletin can be found at (https://mailchi.mp/1f4bc482708d/further-extension-to-pay-taxes-other-covid-19-related-issuances?e=3d15019341)

The bulletin was prepared by SyCipLaw partners Carina C. Laforteza and Hiyasmin H. Lapitan, with the assistance of legal assistants Kathleen Mae L. Nieto and Severino Miguel B. Sanchez.

Please go to syciplawresources.com to see our latest COVID-19 related bulletins and briefings, and for a list of Philippine government issuances covered by our bulletins and briefings.