PWD ID: 20% Discount and VAT Exemption

The law is three statutes stacked

There is no single PWD Act. What applies now is RA 7277 of 1992 as amended, and two amendments do most of the work.

RA 10754 is the current text of Section 32. Anything written before 2016 that describes only a 20% discount is missing half the benefit.

Who qualifies

Section 4 defines a person with disability as someone suffering from restriction of different abilities, as a result of a mental, physical or sensory impairment, to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal.

Disability itself is defined more broadly than most people expect:

1. A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more psychological, physiological or anatomical function, or activities of the individual;
2. A record of such an impairment; or
3. Being regarded as having such an impairment.

Limbs 2 and 3 are worth reading twice. The definition is not confined to a visible or current condition.

One hard limit sits in Section 32: the privileges are available only to PWD who are Filipino citizens.

The 20%, and the VAT exemption

Section 32(a) grants at least 20% discount and exemption from VAT, if applicable, on eight categories.

Note the wording is “at least twenty percent (20%)”. It is a floor. An establishment may give more, and some do, but not less.

The VAT exemption is a second benefit, not a description of the first. On a ₱1,120.00 VAT-inclusive bill, removing the 12% VAT leaves ₱1,000.00, and 20% off that is ₱800.00. The saving against the posted price is ₱320.00, or 28.6%, not 20%.

What the funeral benefit actually covers

Category 8 is the one with its own detailed rule, and it is unusually specific about scope.

The claim is made by the beneficiary or whoever shoulders the expenses, on presentation of the death certificate.

The other privileges

Tax relief for the family

Section 33 as amended by RA 10754 gives the household a real benefit. A PWD within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity to the taxpayer, regardless of age, who is not gainfully employed and is chiefly dependent on that taxpayer, is treated as a dependent under Section 35(b) of the NIRC of 1997.

“Regardless of age” is deliberate. A dependent adult child with a disability qualifies where an ordinary dependent would have aged out.

RA 9442 added a second incentive: anyone establishing homes, residential communities or retirement villages built solely for persons with disability gets a realty tax holiday for the first five years of operation, plus priority in the building and maintenance of provincial or municipal roads leading there.

Getting the ID

Three proofs are accepted under Section 32:

1. An identification card issued by the city or municipal mayor, or the barangay captain, of the place where the PWD resides;
2. The passport of the PWD; or
3. A Transportation discount fare Identification Card issued by the National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons.

The statute names the issuing officer but does not set a national fee, a processing time, or a document checklist. Those are set locally, so the requirements at your city hall are not something this page can state for you.

No stacking

The privileges may not be claimed if the PWD claims a higher discount granted by the establishment, or under other existing laws, or in combination with other discount programs. One benefit, whichever is better.

This also answers the question people ask about holding both a PWD ID and a senior citizen ID. You use one of them per transaction.

Ridicule and vilification are offences

RA 9442 inserted an entire Title Four into the Magna Carta covering conduct rather than money.

Public ridicule is defined as making fun of, contemptuously imitating, or making a mockery of persons with disability, whether in writing, in words, or in action, due to their impairments. Vilification covers slanderous and abusive statements against a person with disability, and public activity inciting hatred towards, serious contempt for, or severe ridicule of persons with disability.

Both are prohibited, and both carry the penalties below.

Penalties

Either penalty, or both, at the discretion of the court. Officials of a violating corporation are directly liable, an alien violator is deported immediately after service of sentence without further deportation proceedings, and the authorities may cancel the business permit or franchise after notice and hearing.

Related pages

The senior citizen benefit is built on the same 20% and VAT structure under a separate law, covered in our senior citizen ID guide. For what these cards prove when you are asked for identification, see valid IDs in the Philippines. The document your barangay issues for most local transactions is the barangay clearance.

Where this goes wrong

Taking 20% off the VAT-inclusive price. The VAT comes off first, which makes the real saving larger than 20%.

Assuming a pre-2016 explanation is current. RA 10754 added the VAT exemption and rewrote Section 32 in full.

Reading the definition too narrowly. A record of an impairment, and being regarded as having one, are both inside the statutory definition.

Stacking the PWD discount on a promo. The Act forbids claiming it in combination with other discount programs.

Using both a PWD and a senior citizen ID on one bill. One or the other, whichever is higher.