Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella. (File photo courtesy of Cebu City Hall PIO)
CEBU CITY – Mayor Edgardo Labella on Tuesday urged companies here to take advantage of the tax concessions offered by the city government amid the economic struggles faced by the business sector.
“Businesses in Cebu City and elsewhere are badly affected by and continue to suffer from public health measures implemented to contain Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). It is indeed timely that our close cooperation with the business community resulted in the passage of the Tax Amnesty Ordinance of 2019,” Labella said via social media.
The City Council approved the measure in late 2019 and took effect in September this year.
“I call on our business community to take advantage of these concessions and settle their tax obligations,” he said.
The measure allows business owners to clear delinquencies in 2019 and previous years without penalty by Dec. 15, 2020 and with a fixed rate of 10 percent on all unpaid due and demandable real property, business, and community taxes, as well as other fees and charges after this date but within the one-year effectivity of the ordinance.
Special officer of the mayor for finance and treasury Jerone Castillo briefed the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry leaders and members on the salient points of the ordinance during a webinar on Monday.
Labella also announced the city government is moving the deadline for payment of real property taxes (RPTs) and business taxes for fiscal year 2020 to Dec. 21, 2020.
This means that business owners will file their taxes before or on Dec. 21.
This is a form of help from the city government after many businesses have struggled through closures and halted operations.
While businesses are given the leeway, they are also urged to settle tax obligations as early as they can.
“This is also a big help to the city government, whose tax collection has also been affected this year,” Labella said in Cebuano.
The City Treasurer’s Office already expected it would not hit its target collection this year due to the pandemic, and the finance committee is hoping to collect more through the extension of the deadline.
This is the second time the city government extended the deadline for the RPT and business taxes due to long quarantine and the economic crisis.
Originally, the deadline was in February before it was first extended to Sept. 30, 2020, as part of the tax amnesty ordinance that provided relief for delinquent payers in previous years. (PNA)
