Tax Alert No. 10 [Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 17-2024 dated 26 January 2024]

Publishes the Full Text of the November 29, 2023 letter from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Department of Health and Organization (DOH) endorsing updates to the List of VAT-Exempt Medicines under Republic Act (R.A.) No. 10963 (TRAIN Law) and R.A. No. 11534 (CREATE Act)

Please be informed that RMC No. 17-2024 provides an updated List of VAT-Exempt Medicines, published in a letter from FDA of DOH dated 29 November 2023 under R.A. No. 10963 (TRAIN Law) and R.A. No. 11534 (CREATE Act), particularly the following (see attached letter from FDA):

Inclusion of certain medicines for cancer, diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease, mental illness, and tuberculosis; and

Deletion of medicine for hypertension.

As clarified under Q&A No. 1 of RMC No. 99-2021, the effectivity of the VAT exemption of the covered medicines and medical devices under the CREATE Act shall be on the date of publication by the FDA of the updates to the said list.

You may access the full version of this Circular through the BIR website.

For any inquiry or request for assistance, please feel free to contact anyone from our Tax Services group. You may also reach us through this link.