The Philippine Department of Finance (DoF) has issued a release to clarify that the 20% final tax on interest income under the recently approved Capital Markets Efficiency Promotion Act (CMEPA) is not a new tax. The DoF explains that the CMEPA standardizes the final tax rate on interest income at 20%, correcting preferential treatment previously favoring long-term, wealthier depositors. Previously, the 20% tax rate applied on interest earned from bank deposits with a maturity of less than th…