Senior citizens will soon enjoy value-added tax (VAT)-free medicines for hypertension, cancer, mental illnesses, tuberculosis, kidney diseases, diabetes, high cholesterol, and Covid-19 drugs and medical devices.
This is in line with Republic Act No. 11534, or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Law.
The Presidential Communication Office (PCO) said that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. made an order to the FDA for the implementation of a 20-percent discount and VAT exemption for senior citizens, relative to the expanded senior citizen act of 2010.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director General Samuel Zacate confirmed that the FDA will transmit the list of approved medicines eligible for the VAT exemption to BIR.
“Basically, the exemption for VAT is through a law – iyong CREATE Law. So, those medicines have been declared by the FDA, endorsed to the BIR para matanggal or mawala iyong kanilang VAT,” Zacate said during a recent news forum.
Since DFA will be the one to determine the eligible medicines, they will also be the ones to develop mechanisms.
“We only endorse it to the BIR kasi kami po iyong nagdi-determine kung ano, para saan talaga iyong gamit. So, FDA ang magsasabi, kung papaano iyong mekanismo, kung paano tatanggalin iyong gamot. So, it’s a joint process po of the FDA and the BIR,” Zacate explained.
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