BIR Finally Sounds Off on Taxability of Hidilyn Diaz's P40+ Million Prizes
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The Bureau of Internal Revenue has finally set the record straight regarding the taxability of Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz’ winnings.
As of July 29, Diaz’s cash prizes are nearing P40 million, with sizeable sums coming from the Philippine Sports Commission, MVP Sports Foundation, San Miguel Corporation, congressman Mikee Romero, the Zamboanga local government, and President Rodrigo Duterte himself.
If we take into consideration the Olympian’s non-cash prizes, like lifetime free flights with Philippine Airlines and AirAsia, a P14 million condo unit from Megaworld chairman Andrew Tan, a house and lot in Tagaytay City, a house and lot in Zamboanga, a new Kia car, a new Foton van, lifetime free fuel from Phoenix, and countless lifetime free supply of food from restaurants around the country—then Diaz’s net worth easily skyrockets past P70 million.
While the BIR explains that the P10 million incentive from the Philippine Sports Commission is not taxable, the others donations and presents just might be.
In a statement, BIR explained, “The donations given to her by businesses, private individuals and entities shall also be excluded from the computation of her gross income under Section 32(B)(3) of the Tax Code. The latter however presupposes that the generous donors have already paid the donor’s tax on these items.”
So, if Hidilyn is to receive, say, the full P10 million from MVP or Ramon S. Ang, then the tycoons will have to pay the donor’s tax first, or else Diaz might have to.
BIR further broke it down: “It’s a good thing that the TRAIN Law has finally lowered the donor’s tax rate to six percent in excess of P250,000. Otherwise, the maximum donor’s tax would be P1,004,000 + 15 percent in excess of P10 million.”
In short, Hidilyn’s donors will need to pay BIR’s hefty donor’s tax before giving the medalist her due, and we hope it’s not deducted from her hard-earned winnings.
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