Sen. Tolentino proposes lower income tax payment to work from home employees

It's been months since our industry workers couldn't work from their work places. A lot of businesses were forced to stop their operations except for groceries, food manufacturers, hospitals and clinics, banks and other essentials for the citizens. Some are lucky to still be able to work despite the pandemic but some totally lost their jobs.

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At the moment, several companies have resorted to "work from home" schemes. This allows their employees to work at home using their own resources like electricity and internet.

Senator Francis Tolentino said on Monday that employees who had additional residential electricity expenses during the coronavirus pandemic should have lower income taxes to pay.

Senator Tolentino proposed in the Senate energy committee hearing to consider these additional expenses shouldered by employees as deductibles from the taxable income.

"Hindi na sila nagtatrabaho doon sa opisina nila, hindi kumo-konsumo ng aircon at kuryente. Dahil nagtatrabaho sila sa bahay, nadagdagan ang kanilang gastusin sa kuryente," (They don't work in their offices anymore, they don't use [companies'] aircon and electricity. They work from home that's why they incurs additional expenses for electricity,) he said.

"I am proposing publicly with Senator [Sherwin] Gatchalian if we can craft a measure amending the National Internal Revenue Code providing for an appropriate, considerable, reasonable deduction on gross income of any taxpayer who was able or required to work away from the office," Senator Tolentino added.

The electricity consumption of residential customers spiked by 30% during the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and modified ECQ in previous months. This is verified by Manila Electric Company (Meralco) which supplies electricity to Metro Manila and surrounding areas.

It was on June 1 when Metro Manila shifted to General Community Quarantine allowing some establishments and limited transportation to resume operations at limited capacity. Some establishments still continue to operate via work from home set-up for the safety of their employees.

The same quarantine protocols will still be in place until July 15.