Amendments may be made by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for income tax return (ITR) filing following the declaration of community quarantine for Metro Manila, but the deadline remains on April 15.

In a Viber message to journalists Sunday, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said they cannot adjust the ITR filing deadline because it “is in the law.”

He explained that the government “can allow amendment of returns without payment of interest, subject to certain conditions like no variance of more than 25 percent.”

“This will be in line with the SEC’s (Security and Exchange Commission) extension of deadline of filing of audited FS (financial statement) of 60 days,” he added.

Malacañang has placed Metro Manila under community quarantine from March 15 to April 14, 2020 after the inter-agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases raised to the highest Code Red Sub-Level 2 the status of the situation in the country because of the rise of community transmission

In a press briefing in Malacanang last week, BIR Collection Service Head Revenue Executive Assistant Rosario Padilla encouraged taxpayers to tap the agency’s online platform, accessible through its website www.bir.gov.ph, to file their 2019 income tax instead of going to the various BIR offices to limit their exposure to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

As of Saturday, DOH has reported 111 confirmed cases and 8 deaths around the country.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Covid-19 a pandemic due to the continued rise of confirmed cases and deaths around the globe.

To date, reports said there are about 157,197 cases, 75,940 recoveries, and 5,839 deaths.

WHO said Europe is now the epicenter of the pandemic since it has registered the most cases and deaths compared to other Covid-19 affected countries combined. (PNA)