In last week’s article, we discussed that, under our National Internal Revenue Code, as amended (Tax Code), and existing regulations, donations in excess of P250,000 in any taxable year shall be exempt from donor’s tax if they are made to the national government, or any of its agencies or instrumentalities, such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, or to an accredited qualified donee-institution. Because of these requirements, many donations to calamity victims through other organizations would not be exempt from donor’s tax.

In 2016, House Bill (HB) 2452 was filed with the 17th Congress to liberalize the requirements of donations to calamity victims, by exempting donations from donor’s tax to any organization without the need of accreditation requirements, provided that such organization declares that the funds shall be in favor of the victims and not more than 10 percent of the donations will be used by the donee-organization for administrative purposes. Such bill also sought to exempt the affected areas from real property tax. A simpler version of the bill was refiled with the 18th Congress as HB 1089 in July 2019 and is pending with the Committee on Social Services of the House of Representatives.