Bureau of Local Government Finance Opinion

September 7, 2000 BUREAU OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE OPINION Mr. Juanito T. Calditaran Executive Director BELGOSA Media System, Inc. 8/F PDCP Bank Centre cor. L.P. Leviste & Herrera Sts. Salcedo Village Makati City Sir : This refers to your letter dated August 23, 2000 requesting a ruling exempting Belgosa Media Systems, Inc. (BMSI) from paying the local government's publishers tax. Representations are made that BMSI is a publisher of DECS prescribed educational materials, which is limited to textbooks and scholastic enhancement materials. Said request is being made invoking the provisions of Section 136 of the Local Government Code of 1991 (LGC), quoted as follows: "Sec. 136. Tax on Business of Printing and Publication. The province may impose tax on the business of persons engaged in the printing and/or publication of books, cards, posters, leaflets, handbills, certificates, receipts, pamphlets, and others of similar nature, at a rate not exceeding fifty percent (50%) of one percent (1%) of the gross annual receipts for the preceding calendar year. "In the case of a newly started business, the tax shall not exceed one-twentieth (1/20) of one percent (1%) of the capital investment. In the succeeding calendar year, regardless of when the business started to operate, the tax shall be based on the gross receipts for the preceding calendar year, or any fraction thereof, as provided herein." AaITCS "The receipts from the printing and/or publishing of books or other reading materials prescribed by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports as school texts or references shall be exempt from the tax herein imposed." In view of the aforequoted provisions, BMSI shall be considered exempt from the tax on business of printing and publication the local governments may imposed under Section 136 of the Code. However, BMSI shall be liable to pay the Mayor's permit and other regulatory fees or service charges that the local government concerned may have imposed under a duly-enacted tax ordinance, its exemption being applicable only to local tax. Very truly yours, (SGD.) ANGELINA M. MAGSINO Deputy Executive Director Officer-in-Charge <http://www.blgf.gov.ph/downloads/opinion/localtax/2000/a2000-0829.pdf> last visited on October 2, 2013.