Publishing the request of Minister Carlos P. Romulo for the Waiver of 10% Tax on Hotel Bills of Delegates and Participants to UNCTAD V

May 23, 1979 REVENUE MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 28-79 SUBJECT : Publishing the request of Minister Carlos P. Romulo for the Waiver of 10% Tax on Hotel Bills of Delegates and Participants to UNCTAD V TO : All Internal Revenue Officers and others concerned For the information and guidance of all concerned, there is published hereunder the full text of the Memorandum of the Presidential Executive Assistant relative to the approval by the President of the request of Minister Carlos P. Romulo for the waiver of the 10% tax on hotel bills of delegates and participants to UNCTAD V: "Office of the President of the Philippines Malacaang May 17, 1979 39-79 "MEMORANDUM "For : Minister Cesar E. A. Virata Ministry of Finance Commissioner Efren Plana BIR Minister Carlos P. Romulo MFA "From : The Presidential Executive Assistant "Please be advised that the President has approved the request of Minister Carlos P. Romulo for the waiver of 10% tax on hotel bills of delegates and participants to UNCTAD V. (SGD.) JACOBO C. CLAVE Presidential Executive Assistant "REPUBLIKA NG PILIPINAS (REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES) MINISTRI NG UGNAYANG PANLABAS (MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS) MAYNILA "MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT "SUBJECT: Waiver of 10% tax on hotel bills of delegates and participants to UNCTAD V "I wish to refer to the 10% tax on hotel bills of delegates and other participants to the current UNCTAD V Session which BIR Commissioner Efren I. Plana ruled be levied on all their bills. Commissioner Plana stated that '. . . tax exemption of United Nations officials as well as the delegates and secretariat of the UNCTAD do not include, among others, exemption from excise taxes such as the Privileges and Immunities of the U.N., adopted by the General Assembly on February 13, 1946.) Accordingly, no exemption from the payment of the said 10% tax can be extended to the delegates and secretariat of the UNCTAD. "In New York and in Geneva, and other cities where UN conferences are held, delegates are exempted from the payment of taxes on hotel bills. This practice has been followed by other countries hosting United Nations conferences, outside of those cities. In other words, while there is such a provision in the aforecited Convention, there is nothing that prevents a host country, in the exercise of its sovereign authority, from waiving the hotel tax. Moreover, because of an earlier indication by the Ministry of Tourism that hotel taxes would be waived, which was conveyed to the Permanent Missions in Geneva, delegates and participants are expecting that the tax would not be collected. "I wish, therefore, to request that in accordance with international practice and as a gesture of Philippine goodwill to the delegates and participants to UNCTAD V, exemption be granted to them from this tax. "The favorable consideration of the President of this matter will be deeply appreciated. (SGD.) CARLOS P. ROMULO Minister for Foreign Affairs "Manila, 16 May 1979" Enforcement and Publicity All internal revenue officers and others charged with the enforcement of internal revenue laws are hereby enjoined to enforce the provisions of this Revenue Memorandum Circular accordingly and to give it as wide a publicity as possible. aisa dc EFREN I. PLANA Acting Commissioner