The House of Representatives can restore the P5 billion annual Value Added Tax exemption (VAT) for cooperatives that was removed under the proposed Tax Reform, Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) bill. Before the plenary debate, the 47-strong Party-list Coalition in the House thumbed down the removal of VAT exemption of cooperatives under the Train bill. The party-list coalition in the House that has 47 members opposed the removal of VAT exemption of cooperatives. They argued that the tax exemption privilege on cooperatives is the only provision democratizing wealth and power to the marginalized. It also removed VAT exemption on gross receipts from lending activities by credit or multi-purpose cooperatives duly registered with the Cooperative Development Authority as well as sales by non-agricultural, non- electric and non-credit cooperatives duly registered with the Cooperative Development Authority.

Source: Manila Times May 23, 2017 13:07 UTC