Consunji-led Semirara Mining and Power Corporation (SMPC) has declared dividend of P1.25 per common share to all of its outstanding stockholders as of the specified record date and based on the company’s dividend policy.

The firm apprised covered shareholders that the prescribed record date had been as of April 13, 2021; and the dividend payout date will be on April 23 this year.

On the scheduled issuance of the dividends, the company has also laid down the final withholding tax rates that shall be enforced on the dividend payments on various types of stockholders.

The tax rates had been pegged at 10-percent to 25-percent; and the application differs if these are individual citizens; individual resident alien; non-resident alien individual; domestic corporation; resident foreign corporation; or non-resident foreign corporation.

The maximum tax rate, it was noted, has been reduced to 25-percent from previously at 30-percent because of the provisions of the newly-enacted Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Law that was signed by President Duterte on March 26 this year.

For stockholders opting to avail of preferential tax rates, SMPC emphasized that additional documents might be required to be submitted by them, which in turn shall also be submitted by the custodian or broker to the company.

“Should the custodian/broker fail to submit the required documents within the prescribed timeframe, the company will have to withhold and remit the taxes at the applicable withholding tax rate based on current BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) regulations,” SMPC stressed.

It further noted that “the company shall not process claims for refund after the remittance of the final withholding taxes to BIR,” adding that “for any issues related to claims for refund of final withholding tax rate after the said tax has been remitted by the company to the BIR, shareholders and/or their representatives shall file their request for refund directly with the BIR.”

The net income of the Consunji-led company skidded to P3.3 billion last year; or 66-percent down from a flourishing profit level of P9.6 billion in 2019; and the downtrend was mainly attributed to the slump in energy sales as well as the softening of coal prices then demand crash on the commodity because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

China is a main market for the coal exports of the firm’s Semirara mine and it is also supplying to the coal-fired plants in the country; while its two power plants – the Sem-Calaca and Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corporation generating assets – are feeding their capacities into the Luzon grid.