REVENUE MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 130-2024 issued on December 3, 2024, circularizes the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 11698, titled “An Act Regulating the Use and Other Activities Related to Vintage Automobiles and Other Historical, Classic, or Collector Motor Vehicles, and Providing for their Exemption from the Standards and Restrictions Set by Laws, and Regulations Issued After the Date of their Manufacture”.

To expedite the processing of imported personally-owned vintage vehicles for personal use, the requirement of an Authority to Release Imported Goods shall be dispensed with, subject to the rules issued by the Secretary of the Department of Finance and Commissioners of the Bureau of Customs and the BIR, relative to the importation of automobiles.

Restoration shops and companies, which are accredited by the Department of Trade and Industry as service and repair enterprises pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 1572, s. 1978, and in the business of importation of vintage vehicles for restoration in the Philippines and for export of the same, shall be eligible to avail themselves of the fiscal and tax incentives provided Republic Act No. 11534 (CREATE Act), and other applicable laws. Eligible restoration shops and companies shall comply with all the requirements provided under the CREATE Act and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) in the availment of fiscal and tax incentives.

In particular, eligible restoration shops and companies must comply with the requirements provided under Sections 297(B) and 304 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997 as amended by the CREATE Act, and adhere to the procedures prescribed in Part Ill of its IRR on Registration and Availment of Incentives including the listing of the activity in the Strategic Investment Priority Plan, the conduct of a cost-benefit analysis, and compliance with the agreed performance commitments for the continuous enjoyment of fiscal incentives.

Vintage vehicles that have already registered for the current year at the time the Regulations take effect shall be permitted to immediately register under a vintage vehicle subclassification which will allow the earlier availment of exemptions or privileges under the Act and the Rules. The validity of such registration shall be two (2) years reckoned from the expiry of the registration for the current year. Correspondingly, a motor vehicle user’s charge equivalent to two (2) years, in addition to other applicable fees, shall be collected from and paid by the owner of the vintage vehicle.