MANILA, Philippines — The House Ways and Means Committee approved measures Monday that would raise the annual personal income tax exemption ceiling to ₱350,000 from ₱250,000 and exempt microenterprises from the 2% minimum corporate income tax (MCIT).
The committee approved House Bills Nos. 10345 and 10346, introduced by Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III and Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos, respectively. The measures form part of a proposed tax reform package aimed at providing relief to individual taxpayers and small businesses.
The bills passed the committee subject to style changes during a hearing chaired by Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo.
House Bill No. 10345 seeks to amend Section 24 of the National Internal Revenue Code and restructure the graduated income tax rates for individual taxpayers.
Under the proposal, individuals earning up to ₱350,000 annually would pay no personal income tax. The proposed increase from the current ₱250,000 ceiling would provide additional take-home pay for workers within the affected income range.
Quimbo said the measure seeks to adjust the tax system to account for rising living costs while maintaining government revenues needed to fund public services.
The other measure would exempt microenterprises from the 2% MCIT, which applies to corporations when the minimum tax exceeds their regular income tax liability.
Quimbo said the proposed exemption would give small businesses more room to reinvest, preserve jobs and sustain operations.
The committee may consolidate the two measures and other proposed tax relief initiatives into an omnibus tax reform package, Quimbo said.
“We are looking at the entire tax system as a whole,” Quimbo said, adding that lawmakers must balance taxpayer relief with sustainable government revenues.
The measures still need to go through the succeeding stages of the legislative process before they can become law.
