June 8, 2021
By Imari Jazmine Tamayo
The Coordinating Council for Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA), an organization of private schools, continues to plead for an “intervention” on the “ill-timed” regulation approved by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) which increases their income tax rate from 10% to 25%.
In a post on their official Facebook page last June 4, COCOPEA said that 600 private education stakeholders signed a petition to correct BIR’s Revenue Regulation 5-2021 (RR 5-2021).
The regulation, issued by BIR on April 8, determines the beneficiaries of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprise Act (CREATE) Law which imposes a temporary reduction of income tax rate from 10% to 1%.
RR 5-2021 showed that only “non-profit” private schools will benefit from the CREATE Law but it did not address for-profit private institutions.
BIR chief Caesar Dulat said that “the law does not intend to provide tax incentives to stock and profit-oriented educational institutions, but only to nonstock and nonprofit educational institutions.”
COCOPEA claimed that this will cause “irreparable damages” to the private education sector especially at a time when they are “fighting for survival”.
“Our sector has not yet recovered from the debilitating effects of the K-12 Law, and is in the midst of struggling with the steep drop in enrollment caused by the pandemic. RR 5-2021 will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” the statement said.
The organization also stressed that stakeholders from the private education sector are “a large and vital partner of the government in providing quality education” and that approving the regulation will “severely affect” these people.
COCOPEA appealed to the BIR several times; however, the government agency stands firm with its decision.
The petition addressed to President Rodrigo Duterte reads, “We come to you Mr. President as the final arbiter for administrative remedy and the ultimate protector of our many stakeholders. We know how much you value education and its key role in alleviating poverty alleviation. We hope and pray that you can correct this egregious injustice.”
COCOPEA consists of 5 leading private education associations, with over 2,500 educational institutions as members. SYNC IN
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