Senate approves poll workers’ tax exemption

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate passed on third and final reading yesterday a measure that seeks to exempt poll workers’ honoraria and other benefits from income tax.

Senate Bill 2520 excludes from gross income tax the honoraria, travel allowance and other benefits granted by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to persons rendering election service. The bill will apply to the May 9, 2022 local and national elections and thereafter.

Around 647,812 personnel from the Department of Education (DepEd) rendered service for this year’s national and local polls, 319,317 of whom served as members of electoral boards.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the committee on basic education and co-author of the bill, said giving poll workers the full amount of their honoraria and other benefits shows appreciation for their hard work and sacrifices to ensure peaceful and orderly elections.

The election honoraria and allowances were not subjected to tax until the 2018 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections and the 2019 midterm elections when the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) imposed a five percent withholding tax on their honoraria.

This year, election honoraria and allowances were subjected to 20 percent withholding tax.

The Department of Finance (DOF) earlier maintained the proposed tax exemption could be difficult to implement and runs counter to the principles of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law to make the tax system more efficient and equitable.

Gatchalian, however, noted that the tax code already provides for tax exemptions.

He earlier urged the DOF and the BIR to submit their proposals on how to give poll workers the full amount of their honoraria and other benefits since elections are only held every three years.

Earlier, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers had asked the Senate to pass a bill that will exempt election service pay from taxes.

The group hopes that Congress will approve and transmit the bill to President Duterte before they adjourn on June 3.

“We urge them to honor election frontliners, whose services were critical in their own election as lawmakers, by making sure that this legislation gets passed in the next few days, and immediately transmitted to the President for enactment,” ACT secretary general Raymond Basilio said in a statement.

Grateful

The DepEd has thanked the Comelec for granting the P2,000 additional honoraria for select teachers who rendered overtime duty during the May 9 polls.

“Although it is lesser from our original proposal of P3,000, the Department is grateful to the Commission for listening to our plea for our teacher’s welfare,” the department said in a statement.

The additional honoraria will compensate teachers who rendered extended hours during the election due to vote counting machines and SD card malfunctions.

DepEd said it is keen on working with the Comelec and lawmakers toward instituting more beneficial poll-related provisions for teachers who serve to protect the sanctity of votes. – Romina Cabrera