Is The BIR Really Supporting Our Cooperatives?--Marcos

Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos, Jr. today rallied leaders of cooperatives all over the country to unite and work with him in his effort to change government policies hampering the development of the cooperative movement.

In his keynote address at the 5th Cooperative TEAMshop held at the La Carmela Hotel and Convention Center in Boracay, Marcos noted that despite tax incentives the law grants to cooperatives the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) imposes requirements making it difficult for them to enjoy such privilege.

Marcos lamented, "The BIR requires cooperatives to get a Certificate of Tax Exemption (CTE) before they can avail of their tax-free privilege, and even before they can get a CTE, cooperatives must first get a Certificate of Good Standing (CGS) from the Cooperative Development Authority!"

"I cannot help but express my dismay, because not only does this serve to defeat the beneficial purpose of the law, it also serves to cause a regression of all our cooperative development efforts," said Marcos, Vice-Chairman of the Senate Committee on Cooperatives."

Marcos said, "It seems that BIR Commissioner Kim Henares assumes that Cooperatives are not beneficial and accused that many cooperatives are in existence only to circumvent labor and tax laws.

"In accordance with the state policy of fostering the growth of cooperatives, the law stipulates that cooperatives who deal exclusively with their members are tax-free while those that deal with non-members are granted limited exemption," Marcos cited.

Marcos said that out of the 25,000 cooperatives registered with the CDA, only about 11,600 have secured CGS while only 6,295 were issues CTE by the BIR.

Marcos encouraged the leaders and managers of the cooperatives to be at the forefront of the struggle to attain tax-exempt status for ALL cooperatives in the whole country, "I challenge you to achieve your 2020 vision of making cooperative the business model preferred by people and the fastest growing form of enterprise."

"Tulad po ninyo at ng buong sektor ng kooperatiba, pangarap ko rin pong maabot ang 2020 Vision para sa mga kooperatiba. Sana po ay samahan ninyo ako sa aking misyon na ito, upang ang ating pangarap ay ating maabot at gawing isang ganap na katotohanan," said Marcos.