I guess you are aware by now that majority of the businesses in our country have assets of less than P3 million. Yes, these are your micro businesses. If you are engaged in a business and have grand dreams of making it grow beyond P3 million, then read on.
I will not be surprised if you are one of those owners who have not yet registered their businesses. That means you are still part of the informal sector. The Philippine Development Report 2009 of the World Bank show that very few—around 2 out of 10,000 adults in the country—formally registered their businesses.
Can you therefore guess what are the top problems of business owners in the country?
Yup, majority of the Fiipino businesses had problems associated with practices in the “informal sector”. And while this study is five years old, I doubt if there had been a drastic improvements in the above picture since then.
“Why would I leave the informal sector, get myself registered with the Department of Trade, the local government and the Bureau of Internal Revenue, when these would be added costs to my business?” you ask.
Well, the long and short answer is this: It’s your duty to the country to register and pay your taxes. In fact, all citizens of any country have to do this. There is really no way of sugarcoating this obligation.
Let me give you one silver lining, though: Back in 2002, a law called the Barangay Micro Business Enterprises (BMBE) Law was passed to give all businesses registered as BMBEs at least a two-year exemption from paying their business taxes.
The law also allows BMBEs to pay below the minimum salary rates to their employees. Click 2010_RA_9178_BMBE_Act if you want to read the law verbatim.
However, before you can be BMBE qualified, you first have to leave the informal sector by registering your business.
The good news here is that once the Go Negosyo Bill of Senator Bam Aquino gets passed as law, the 2002 BMBE Law will be reinforced—or better yet, improved.
A word of caution, friend. Do not assume these laws will guarantee that your enterprise will succeed. They are just there to help you grow, and not spoon feed you.
At the end of the day, the success of a business still rest on your capacity and attitude as the business owner.
