An official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday, Jan. 25, said there is no rule requring the disposition of unspent campaign donations.
"There are no rules requiring its disposition in any specific way. Meaning to say there is no rule that say you have to return, that you have to restore to individual donors or that you are supposed to use it for some charitable purpose," Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez said in a virtual press briefing.
"The only rule there is can actually be found in revenue regulations issued by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), which states very clearly that unspent campaign funds shall be treated as income and shall be subject to the payment of the appropriate income tax," added Jimenez.
"So it follows that there really is nothing wrong to hanging on to unspent campaign funds as long as you pay taxes on them," he said.
Based on Comelec Resolution No. 9991 or the Omnibus Rules and Regulations Governing Campaign Finance and Disclosure, "any unexpended balance from any contribution to candidate or party, also known as excess contributions, shall be subject to income tax." While BIR Regulation No. 7-2011 provides that excess campaign contributions shall be considered as subject to income tax and should therefore be included in the candidate's taxable income as stated in his/her Income Tax Return filed for the said taxable year.