The government has reminded financial service providers (FSPs) to issue the proper receipt for the withdrawal fee charged to beneficiaries of the government's subsidy program.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the issuance of receipts will help the government track down the tax payments of the concerned companies involved in the digital payout of the second tranche of the emergency subsidy.
The government earlier tapped FSPs like GCash, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), Robinsons Bank, PayMaya, Starpay and Unionbank to facilitate the faster payouts of the cash aid to millions of low income families.
These FSPs are allowed by the government to ask for cash-out fee of up to P50 from the beneficiary upon withdrawal.
"Well, alam naman po ng DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) na lahat po ng pumili na makuha iyong kanilang ayuda sa pamamagitan po ng cash out ay kinakailangan magbayad ng P50. (Well the DSWD knows that those who chose to get the aid through cash out must pay P50," Roque said during a televised briefing Thursday.
(Ang aking concern lang po, dapat magbigay din ng resibo itong mga FSPs na ito para naman ma-record iyong income nila at makapagbayad sila nang tamang buwis. So alam po iyong P50 pero dapat po may resibo para masiguradong magbayad naman ang FSPs ng buwis (My only concern is FSPs must issue receipts so their income can be recorded and they can pay the proper taxes. So we know about the P50 but there must be a receipt to ensure the FSPs are paying taxes)," he added.
As of August 17, the DSWD reported that it has so far distributed P76.2 billion of emergency subsidy to 12.7 million poor families to help them cope with impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The number of beneficiaries represented 90.4 percent of the government's target 14.1 million recipients of the second tranche of the social amelioration program (SAP).
The places covered by SAP 2 are Central Luzon except Aurora province, National Capital Region, Calabarzon, Benguet, Pangasinan, Iloilo, Cebu province, Bacolod City, Davao City, Albay province and Zamboanga City, according to the DSWD.