MANILA – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has provided the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) with an expanded list of medicines used to treat five serious diseases that are exempt from the 12 percent value-added tax (VAT).
The following are the generic names of these medicines: Ibandronic (Acid/Sodium and Human Papillomavirus Vaccine (Recombinant /Adjuvanted/Absorbed) for cancer; Bacillus Calmette (BOG) Vaccine and Live Vaccine, BCG Vaccine and Tuberculin Purified Protein Derivative for tuberculosis; Esketamine for mental illnesses; Dapagliflozin+ Metformin Hydrochloride for diabetes; and, Felodipine+Metropolol Succinate for hypertension.
The list was forwarded by BIR Commissioner Lilia Catris Guillermo to concerned field offices for information and guidance.
Since the passage of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act last year, the FDA has been updating the list of VAT-exempt medicines.
The tax exemption privilege was granted by law in order to alleviate the financial burden of patients suffering from cancer, tuberculosis, mental illness, hypertension, and diabetes.
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