The most important thing I want to convey here is that Law 21440 on donations for public benefit is now fully operational , meaning you can already use it. Although the law was published in April 2022, we had been waiting for the instructions from the Ministry of Finance and the SII, which arrived a few weeks ago.
I would like to summarize here the main lessons we learned yesterday after the philippines mobile number conversation about this Law, especially for those who still have some doubts:
Donors: Anyone can be a donor under this law, natural persons, companies, corporations.
Donees (who receives the donation): Foundations, corporations, fire departments and churches.
Purposes: It is very important to know that the purposes are very broad, including social development, health, environment, religion, gender, childhood, migrants, indigenous peoples, animal protection, among many others. Even if the purpose pursued by the organization is not on the list, the Ministry of Finance is free to incorporate other purposes of general interest.
Tax benefit: In addition to the benefit of not paying tax on donations and not having to go through the insinuation process, the donation can be deducted from expenses.
Type of donations: can be in cash or in kind (this is very good, because of the other laws that exist, very few accept donations in kind). It also clearly states that donations from abroad can be made under this law.
What it finances: operational expenses, infrastructure, equipment, projects.
It gives the donor certainty: any errors in the donation procedure will be the responsibility of the recipient (not the donor), which lowers the barriers to donation because if there is a penalty, it will be for the person who received the donation.
NOTE: This law does not replace the laws that currently exist, these will continue to exist so you can continue to use them in parallel with this new law.
What steps must we follow to access this law?
It's very simple!
Register on the portal of the Donations Law 21440 .
On the portal you can also find other useful information such as a series of frequently asked questions. I suggest you review them so you can better understand the law.
Within a maximum of 20 business days you should receive a response regarding the status of your application to register as beneficiaries of this law.
Once your application has been approved, you are now authorized to use this law and tell your donors about it (the status of the application is also checked on the portal).
Download the donation certificate proposed by the SII. I leave you the link to the SII resolution, at the end of the document it takes you to Annex 1 where you can download the certificate: SII Exempt Resolution No. 145 of September 1, 2010 (this resolution is also in the “regulations” tab of the portal of law 21440 that I shared with you above).
This certificate does not need to be stamped at the SII! You do not need to take it to a printing shop either, you can do it with your own printer.
When you use the certificate, add your logo (we recommend not making any changes to the certificate template). Print three copies, one for you, one for the donor and one for the SII (however, you should not take the third copy to the SII, you should just keep it in case they ask for it).
Once a year, by March 31, you must submit a report on the donations received under this law. The format of this report is not yet defined, so we must wait to see what the regulations say, which will probably be issued in the coming weeks.
We thank Roberto Peralta and all the lawyers who have been involved in moving this donation law forward.
Good luck to all the social organizations and we hope you find it very useful!