NAGA CITY - The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is bent on pushing to tax cooperatives registered with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) even as the authorities are still divided on the interpretation of the tax exemption provision of the cooperative law, a CDA official said.

        Lawyer Maria Lourdes P. Pacao, legal officer of the CDA regional office, said the BIR has already sent communication to them asking for the list of the top 20 performing cooperatives in Bicol.

        Pacao said they have already prepared 19 of the top list from Gubat St. Anthony Credit Cooperative with total net assets of P116 million to a cooperative with a P13-million net asset at the bottom list.

        She clarified that the BIR gives tax exemption to CDA-registered cooperative upon application of a tax exemption privilege.

        But Pacao believes that the tax exemption privilege of the CDA-registered cooperatives is absolute based on Article 61 of the cooperative law.

        She said, however, that Article 62 has cited qualification of the tax exemption privilege that pertains to the requirement that cooperatives service and operate for the members only.