MANILA - Medicines to control diabetes, hypertension, and high-cholesterol will no longer have any Value-Added Tax (VAT) starting January 1, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.

This is due to provisions in the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law, the department said in a post on its Facebook page.

TRAIN, the first package of the administration's tax reform program, lowered personal income taxes but offset the losses by increasing duties on fuel, sweetened beverages, and vehicles.

It also limited VAT exemptions to necessities such as raw agriculture food, education, and health. It, however, retained the exemption of purchases of senior citizens and persons with disabilities.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will publish on its website a "List of VAT-exempt Diabetes, High-Cholesterol, and Hypertension Drugs" as identified by the Food and Drug Authority, it said in a revenue regulation signed by BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez.

Complaints for non-compliance and violations of the regulations may be forwarded to ecomplaints@bir.gov.ph, and violators of the VAT exemption would be punished by a fine of not more than P1,000 or imprisonment of not more than 6 months, or both, the regulation says.