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By Chino S. Leyco, Reporter
The taxmen cometh for customers of Meralco and other power
distributors.
They would come from the Bureau of Internal
Revenue (BIR), which announced that it was planning to charge income
tax on interests earned from electric-meter deposits that were paid
by consumers of electricity sold by Manila Electric Co. (Meralco)
and the other utilities.
The announcement made over the weekend came
after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) ordered all power
distributors in the country, including the Lopez-owned Meralco, to
refund the principal and interests on the meter deposits that they
had collected from their customers.
A ranking BIR official said the country’s main
tax agency had already drafted a revenue regulation for the
P2.8-billion refund. If the draft is approved, he added, the agency
will impose a 10-percent tax on the interests, not on the principal,
of the meter deposits.
The 10-percent tax will be shouldered by Meralco
and the other utilities, said the official, who requested that he
not be named.
But the Internal Revenue bureau, according to
the source, is not yet convinced on adopting the revenue regulation.
He cited expected negative reactions from the consumers.
But if the draft revenue regulation is approved,
Meralco and the other power distributors will automatically deduct a
10-percent creditable withholding tax from the income on the
interests before they give the refund to their customers.
Under the plan, the utilities will act as
government tax agents. The BIR official also cited difficulties that
the government will possibly face if it acts as the collector of the
10-percent tax on interests.
The tax agency supposedly is conducting a survey
on the possible imposition of the tax among the Department of
Finance and some power distributors.
The Finance department has yet to state its
position on the issue, the source said. But, he added, some
utilities had agreed on the revenue regulation.
The ERC last week ordered Meralco to refund with
interests the meter deposits of its customers.
Of the P2.8-billion refund, P2.1 billion
represents principal and the remaining P700 million, interests.
The regulatory commission said it had approved
the refund rules as prescribed under the Magna Carta for Residential
Electricity Consumers, which it promulgated on June 17, 2004, and
the Distribution Services (Magna Carta) and Distribution System Open
Access Rules, which it declared on January 18, 2006.
Private-utility consumers are entitled to
interest income on their meter deposits in accordance with the rates
stipulated under the rules.
Residential and nonresidential customers who
paid their meter deposits before the effectivity of Resolution 95-21
(Standard Rules Governing Electrical Power Services promulgated on
September 22, 1995) will be entitled to annual interest of 6
percent. The resolution was issued by the Energy Regulatory Board,
forerunner of the regulatory commission.
Meter deposits that were paid from the
effectivity of Resolution 95-21 until the day before the effectivity
of the Magna Carta (for residential consumers) or open-access rules
(for non-residential ones) will earn an annual interest of 10
percent.
Those paid from the effectivity of the Magna
Carta or open-access rules until the day before the start of the
refund will be entitled to an annual interest of 6 percent.
At the option of the customers, the refund of
the deposits and interests shall either be in cash, check or credit
to the customer’s future monthly billings. The customers could
also opt to settle through the refund due and demandable claims
against them by the power distributors.
The consumers of power distributed by electric
cooperatives have the option to convert their meter deposits as
contributions, or equity, which must be recorded in the financial
books of the cooperatives.
Customers applying for refunds are required to
present valid proofs of identification and registration, such as
electricity bills.
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