Cooperatives receive full exemptions

CONGRESS on Monday approved the rules for granting full tax exemptions to cooperatives to allow them to serve their members and customers better and make more money, an official said.

All cooperatives dealing exclusively with members are exempt from paying all taxes and fees, including but not limited to income tax, percentage tax, donor tax, excise tax, documentary stamp tax and the annual P500 registration fee, said Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, the principal author of the new Cooperative Code.

“This is good news for the 75,000 cooperatives all over the country,” Zubiri said.

“They have long been waiting for these guidelines so they could operate more freely and easily, without worrying about financial resources.”

The code’s implementing rules were approved by the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Cooperatives, and those entitle all registered cooperatives to tax exemptions from their transactions with banks and insurance companies.

Electric cooperatives are exempt from the value-added tax on systems losses and in their distribution of electricity to members.

Zubiri said the rules were the result of a joint effort by the Customs Bureau and the Cooperative Development Authority to comply with the provisions of the Cooperative Code of 2008.

The rules specify the tax exemptions of the different categories of cooperatives, and in particular those doing business with members only and those doing business with both members and non-members. Fel V. Maragay, Manila Standard Today