Republic Act No. 9504

President Arroyo signed into law today RA 9504 exempting minimum wage earners from income tax.  Aside from the exemption of minimum wage earners, other provisions of the NIRC were amended as well, including the following:

• Providing for a uniform personal exemption of P50,000 (up from P20,000, P25,000, and P32,000 for single individuals, heads of family, and married individuals, respectively)
• Increasing the additional exemption for dependents from P8,000 per dependent to P25,000
• Increasing the optional standard deduction of individuals subject to tax under Section 24 other than a nonresident alien from 10% to 40%
• Allowing domestic corporations and resident foreign corporations to elect a standard deduction of 40% of gross income in lieu of itemized deductions under Section 34 

Attached is Committee Report No. 53 (which is now RA 9504) so you could see the marked-up amendments to the NIRC.