Government Taxes

The problem with our tax system, a tax lawyer once told me, is that it is too complicated… even for tax lawyers. The lawyer explained that the BIR issues countless rulings and interpretations of tax laws that only they know about. This makes it difficult not to negotiate with BIR examiners because the window for…

With the country’s economic situation, employees nowadays are quite keen on their net take home pay. Thus, employers must explore ways to address this concern.   

The World Bank (WB) has proposed that the government increase excise taxes and reduce tax incentives as a way for the Aquino administration to set in order the fiscal situation which remains hounded with record-high shortfalls.

Malacañang on Tuesday said that a study suggesting that the Aquino government impose new taxes to attain fiscal stability was not done by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). “That is not a NEDA study. It‘s one of the points in a series of workshops NEDA and ADB [Asian Development Bank] sponsored as an…

Govt reforms to attain fiscal stability wanting THE Aquino administration has to impose new taxes as its tax administrative reforms are insufficient to meet fiscal balance in a sustained manner, according to a study by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). In the study, “A Strategic Framework and Action Plan for Inclusive Growth,” NEDA…

The BIR has no choice on the matter. According to former BIR Chief Jojo Bunag, the law mandates the publication of the list of taxpayers. The “list” was the subject of our conversation over breakfast when I saw Jojo at the Tuesday Club.

Last Wednesday, when I reported on the publication of the list of top 500 taxpayers, I made the comment that Bobby Ongpin was only at 306th and paid P2.8 million in income taxes. I did not imply Mr Ongpin was evading his taxes but was merely wondering why movie starlet Rufa Mae Quinto, 133rd, paid…

According to Forbes maga-zine, the richest Filipinos and their respective networths are: 1. Henry Sy Sr., $5 billion; 2. Lucio Tan, $2.1 billion; 3. John Gocongwei, $1.5 billion; 4. Jaime Zobel de Ayala, $1.2 billion; 5. Andrew Tan, $1.2 billion; 6. Tony Tan Caktiong, $980 million; 7. Enrique Razon, $975 million; 8. Beatrice Campos, $840…

We played a new game at the Tuesday Club yesterday. It is called Can You Believe What Your Favorite Tycoon Paid in Taxes? Tony Lopez brought the latest issue of his magazine, Biz News Asia, whose cover story is entitled Heroes, or the list of the top 500 taxpayers based on 2008. Tony said he…

MANILA, Philippines – Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima urged the business community to invest in the government’s planned infrastructure projects to give the Aquino administration fiscal space for social services.

THE government hopes to recover an estimated P250 billion lost yearly to tax evasion by focusing on tax cheats among the self-employed and collecting unpaid inheritance taxes, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said Thursday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Aquino administration will make sure tax leakages are plugged before new revenue measures are imposed. Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima made the assurance as foregone revenues due to collection loopholes have reportedly reached an alarming P250 billion.

THE Philippines does not lack for a comprehensive tax system. In fact, we adopted the best from both worlds—United States and Europe, with a plethora of taxes that are all-encompassing in coverage.

MOST ECONOMISTS agree that the single most critical economic imperative for the Aquino government now is to dramatically hike government revenues. The previous government left behind a P197-billion deficit in the first half of the year, much more than the P153 billion incurred in the same period last year. This is already more than three-fourths…

Taxes are the lifeblood of the nation. In fact, under Philippine laws, statutes that grant tax exemptions are construed strictissimi juris against the taxpayer and liberally in favor of the taxing authority.

To the objection that VAST system would be easy to cheat in because collecting would not be as transparent as in the present VAT system, House of Representatives Ways & Means Chairman Hermilando Mandanas points to the accounting and invoicing requirements under his proposed law. These requirements are more rigorous but simpler to implement and…

The following is the section in the present law that the proposed VAST will do away with. These are the main mechanisms and schemes that, in the view of the House and Ways Chair Hermilando Mandanas, VAT-registered companies—in collusion with BIR collectors—manipulate so that in the end they have very little or nothing to remit…

The proposed law to change the value added tax (VAT) system to value simplified tax (VAST) would throw back the Philippines to “primitive times” and undo the fiscal and economic progress that the country has achieved so far, the Finance department said. Gil Beltran, Department of Finance (DOF) undersecretary, told The Manila Times that House…

Mandanas: No need to hit toll fees with EVAT, govt collections will double House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Hermilando Mandanas believes his House Bill 1970, which would impose a 6 percent “Value Simplified Tax” or VAST in lieu of the present 12 percent Valued Added Tax (VAT), will quickly solve the government’s…

THE DEPARTMENT of Finance yesterday officially launched a website dubbed Pera ng Bayan (People’s Money) to enlist the public’s active support for the Aquino administration’s campaign against corruption.

Under Revenue Regulations No. (RR) 02-98, as amended, the payor/buyer is constituted as the government’s withholding agent who is mandated to deduct and withhold from the gross income to be received by the payee at the time of payment or accrual of income, whichever comes first.

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE) – The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has slapped charges against officials of a construction firm who have been accused of failing to supply accurate information on their income tax return and to pay taxes amounting to nearly P69 million.

The title of a Dow Jones article last July 22, “Philippines unveils plans to double investment proposals by 2014,” pointed to a key goal of the present national leadership.

MANILA, Philippines –  Sen. Pia Cayetano warned the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) yesterday of the repercussions of its plan to tax market and sari-sari store vendors, as well as pedicab and tricycle drivers, saying the revenue agency should focus instead on big tax evaders if it’s really serious about plugging the yawning deficit.

THE Aquino administration wants to collect more taxes by cracking the whip on sari-sari store owners, market vendors, and the estimated 40 percent of Filipinos who work in the underground economy.

MANILA, Philippines – Members of the visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) team said yesterday that the new administration under President Aquino should first focus on enhancing and improving its tax collection efficiency before introducing new tax measures as part of efforts to put its fiscal house in order.

Senator cites loss of P100B in last 2 years The exemption of senior citizens from the 12-percent value-added tax (VAT) was “idiotic,” Sen. Sergio Osmeña 3rd said on Thursday. According to Osmeña, the government lost about P100 billion in the last two years “from all those idiotic tax exemptions that Congress has passed.”

The Aquino administration has filed its first tax evasion case against a pawnshop owner. In a briefing, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares said the agency is suing William Villarica for paying only an income tax of P25,607 from 1998 to 2009, even though he can afford to buy and maintain sports luxury…

STANDARD & Poor’s (S&P) warned the new Philippine government that it cannot rely on improving tax efficiency if it wants to pursue a sustainable budget deficit. In an e-mail to The Manila Times, Benard Agost, a sovereign analyst at the international credit rating agency, said ditching the previous administration’s balanced-budget goal would not affect the…

One of the items on President Gloria Arroyo’s 10-point agenda is to balance the budget by “collecting the right revenues and spending on the right things.” Her administration has fallen short of the target. Revenues have increased but expenses have soared—partly because of the need to pump prime the economy and create a dynamic economy.