This is my Powerpoint Presentation Desk presented to the People Management Society(PMSoc) BSBA-Human Resources Management students of De La Salle University Dasmariñas last 02 June 2021 (“HR SYNERGIA 2021: A Glimpse into the Past, Present, and Future of the Business World with an HR Lens)

1. BENEFITS AND
ALLOWANCES UPDATE FOR
PAYROLL MANAGEMENT
JOSELINE M. ALOSBANOS, CHRP
HR PRACTITIONER / CONSULTANT
JULY 2021

2. DISCUSSION
POINTS / AGENDA
• Short Introduction to Payroll and Benefits
• General Considerations
• Deminimis Benefits
• State of Benefits / Allowance during COVID 19 Pandemic
• Government Mandatory Benefit Update
• COVID Specific Allowances / Benefits

3. PAYROLL &
BENEFITS
MANAGEMENT
• Payroll and Benefits Management is a sub-category under Total
Rewards (Compensation and Benefits Administration) .
• Payroll & Benefits Administration is managed by the Human
Resources Department. Some companies however assign
Payroll under Accounting – preferably separate from the whole
Accounting Department. Some companies have a combination
of HR in charge of Payroll and Accounting doing the Payroll
Audit.
• Payroll may be done in house or outsourced to another company
but employee information will be supplied by HR.

4. PAYROLL,
ALLOWANCE &
BENEFITS
MANAGEMENT
• Allowances maybe added to the Payroll and is subject to
Withholding Tax (for Rank & File Employees) or Fringe Benefit
Tax (for Supervisors and above) deductions
• Any amount above the Deminimis Benefits are also subjected to
Income Tax (same as above) deductions.
• Providing additional allowances to employee is a Management
discretion.
• Allowances not included within Payroll will be released via Petty
Cash Fund; employees are required to submit receipts in
support of these allowances.

5. • Government Mandated Benefits that
all companies needs to comply with.
• Companies in general can offer above
that of the minimum benefits.

6. DEMINIMIS (NON
TAX BENEFITS)
• Facilities or privileges furnished or offered by an employer to his
employees that are of relatively small value and are offered or
furnished by the employer merely as a means of promoting the
health, goodwill, contentment, or efficiency of his employees
• “De minimis benefits”, like fringe benefits, are granted by the
employer on top of the employee’s basic compensation, but are
not considered as taxable compensation for income tax purposes
nor subject to the fringe benefit tax.
• All other benefits given by employers which are not included in
the above enumeration shall not be considered as “de minimis”
benefits, therefore shall be subject to income tax as well as
withholding tax on compensation income

7. DEMINIMIS
BENEFITS
• Monetized unused vacation leave credits of private
employees not exceeding ten (10) days during the year.
• Monetized value of vacation and sick leave credits paid
to government officials and employees.
• Medical Cash Allowance to dependents of employees, not
exceeding P1,500 per employee per semester or P250 per
month.
• Rice Subsidy of P2,000 or one sack of 50kg. rice per month.
• Uniform and Clothing Allowance not exceeding P6,000 per
annum.
• Actual Medical Assistance, e.g. medical allowance to cover
medical and healthcare needs, annual medical/executive check-
up, maternity assistance, and routine consultations, not
exceeding P10,000 per annum

8. DEMINIMIS
BENEFITS
• Laundry Allowance not exceeding P300 per month.
• Employee Achievement Awards, e.g. for length of service or
safety achievement, which must be in the form of a tangible
personal property other than cash or gift certificate, with annual
monetary value not exceeding P10,000 received by the
employee under established written plan which does not
discriminate in favor of highly paid employees.
• Gifts given during Christmas and Major Anniversary
Celebration not exceeding P5,000 per employee per annum.
• Daily Meal Allowance for Overtime work and night/graveyard
shift not exceeding twenty-five (25%) of the basic minimum
wage on per region basis

9. STATE OF PAYROLL, BENEFITS & ALLOWANCE
MANAGEMENT DURING COVID 19 PANDEMIC
• Implementation of the new Social Security Salary Table for 2021-2023
• Implementation of the SSS Workers Investment and Savings Program.
• Deferment in the increase of PhilHealth Benefits for 2021 due to the COVID Pandemic.
• Increase in Pag-Ibig Contributions (deferred this year) from Php 100 EE/ER to Php 150.00 EE/ER per
month.
• Deferment in paying allowances to any employees Working From Home.
• Flexible Working Arrangements for Employees including Work from Home, Reduced Work Hours
/Days, etc.
• Introduction of COVID 19 specific Benefits during this pandemic. Note that these benefits may be
temporary in nature and may be removed once work is “normalized”. Not all benefits stated here are
applicable to all companies and industries.

10. GOVERNMENT BENEFITS
UPDATE

11. SOCIAL SECURITY
SYSTEM UPDATE
• Introduction of the new Salary Contribution Table for 2021
which included the Workers Investment and Savings Program.
• This is an additional retirement savings plan providing additional
monetary benefit to members upon reaching the age of
retirement.
• The fund is a “defined-contribution plan”, which means the
employer and employee make a fixed and known contribution
amount every month. The actual amount of benefit to be paid to
the SSS member upon retirement, though, is not known in
advance.

12. SOCIAL SECURITY
SYSTEM UPDATE
• Employees receiveing Php 20,250 and above will be required to
contribute a portion of their salaries to the mandatory SSS
Provident Fund. Employers will also be giving a portion share of
the fund depending on the employee’s monthly salary credit.
• Employees who have COVID 19 can file this under Sickness
Benefit subject to the submission of documents in support of the
said claim and submission of the RT-PCR Test.

13. EMPLOYEES
COMPENSATION
• COVID 19 is covered by the Employees’ Compensation
Commission declared as an Occupational & Work-related
Disease.
• Employees may claim compensation for COVID infection – if
tasks assigned requires frequent face-to-face and close proximity
interactions (i.e. workplace or commuting to and from the
office); employee is not qualified if COVID was contracted at
home.
• Needs to submit RT-PCR test and go through evaluation via SSS
to determine if work related.

14. COVID 19 SPECIFIC
BENEFITS/ALLOWANCES
• Internet Subsidy / Allowance
• Company Assistance in setting up WFH “virtual offices”
• Vitamins (either in kind or allowance)
• Staff House / Accommodation
• Company Sponsored Meals for Onsite Employees
• Company Loans / Monetary Support for Displaced Employees
• Shuttle Service / Transportation Allowance
• Swab Test / COVID 19 Testing for Onsite Employees / Suspected
Employees

15. COVID 19 SPECIFIC
BENEFITS/ALLOWANCES
• Hazard Pay for Private Employees *
• COVID Vaccine Coverage for Principals and Dependents
• Supplemental Leaves for Probationary Employees / Employee
who have Zero Leave Balance
• Pandemic Coverage for Employee – Quarantine Leave or
Quarantine Quarters
• Psychological Services addressing employee mental well being
covered under the company’s HMO.

16. THANK YOU!!