Arthur Fuentes

Bank of the Philippine Islands n Makati on January 19, 2021. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

Jekki Pascual

MANILA — BPI defended the Capital Markets Efficiency Promotion Act (CMEPA) saying the 20 percent tax on savings interest is not a new tax.BPI President Jose Teodoro Limcaoco, who is also the president of the Bankers Association of the Philippines, said there has been a misunderstanding on the law which just put a uniform tax.&quot;It&#x27;s a little overblown when people talked about it. All CMEPA did was put a uniform final withholding tax for deposits. It really hasn&#x27;t change for most people,&quot; he told reporters at a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas event.&quot;The CMEPA actually is quite good. It puts a uniform tax across all, makes execution simpler, makes investors able to understand the tax regime of the country easier. It&#x27;s actually good,&quot; he added.Limcaoco added that the policy will not affect most Filipinos and will only have an effect on the wealthy who have lots of long term investments.&quot;For normal savings, deposits, for people who do time deposits like the ordinary Filipinos, there is no change at all,&quot; he said.Limcaoco also said the new law will not dissuade people from saving money in the bank, since regular savings account won&#x27;t have changes when it comes to interest tax.The Department of Finance has also reiterated that the 20 percent interest income is not new. Regular savings have had a 20 percent tax on interest since 1998. Tax on interest income on time deposits is up 20 percent from 5, 12, and 20 percent depending on years.CMEPA imposes a 20 percent tax on interest of long term deposits or time deposit with a maturity of over 5 years.<div><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vX9xSXOoBwY?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe> </div>

BPI President Jose Teodoro Limcaoco, who is also the president of the Bankers Association of the Philippines, said there has been a misunderstanding on the law.

BPI President Jose Teodoro Limcaoco, who is also the president of the Bankers Association of the Philippines, said there has been a misunderstanding on the law.

20 percent tax on deposits not new: BPI

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20 percent tax on deposits not new: BPI

Jekki Pascual

Published Jul 18, 2025 03:36 PM PHT

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