Quezon City Rep. Precious Castelo is urging the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to defer the enforcement of its memorandum circular requiring online sellers to register their business and pay income and other taxes.
Her appeal is contained in Resolution No. 994, which she filed over the weekend.
“Because of COVID-19, there was and there is still a great demand for food and other products delivered to your doorsteps.”
“It is undeniable that community quarantine restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease) pandemic have incidentally caused an e-commerce boom, as many businesses have shifted from traditional or face-to-face selling to online or digital selling,” Castelo said.
She said aside from established businesses, the pandemic has given rise to a new breed of thousands of small entrepreneurs – residents of subdivisions who cater to their neighbors, their community and nearby villages.
“They offer to sell and deliver anything their communities need, from eggs, meat, bread, vegetables, rice, disinfectant, face masks, other medical supplies and food products, to ultra-violet lamps. They even sell furniture, office equipment and school supplies,” she said.
She added that such online businesses are flourishing because people are afraid to go out of their homes for fear of getting infected by the coronavirus.
“Because of COVID-19, there was and there is still a great demand for food and other products delivered to your doorsteps. Neighborhood entrepreneurs are filling such demand,” Castelo stressed.
“In fact, it is these community sellers who started catering to people who chose to stay home. The established businesses like restaurants and fast-food chains are just starting to catch up,” she added.
“Many of these people are workers who lost their jobs due to quarantine restrictions.”
She pointed out that unfortunately for the enterprising village sellers, the taxman took notice of their business.
“Many of these people are workers who lost their jobs due to quarantine restrictions. I think that they are not really making money. They are just trying to make both ends meet. There is thus strong opposition to the move of the BIR to get them registered and to tax them,” she stressed.
Castelo’s resolution urges the House of Representatives to express its collective sense to urge the BIR to defer the implementation of its Revenue Memorandum Circular 60-2020.
The Quezon City lawmaker said she would be happy for online community sellers if they remain as entrepreneurs after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Maybe, that would be the time the government could ask them to register and pay taxes,” she said.