Government Taxes

THE Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said the Philippines has yet to fully comply with global standards on tax information exchange despite the last year’s enactment into law of the Exchange of Information on Tax Matters Act of 2009. In a letter to Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, Jeffrey Owens, OECD chief for Tax…

DESPITE calls from economists for the incoming administration to increase the country’s value-added tax (VAT) rate to 15 percent, the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) and Code: Reforms for Economic Development (CODE: RED) warned on Monday that this could cut consumption, increase poverty and endanger the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

A think tank backed by the state-owned University of the Philippines said proposals to again increase the sales tax or the value added tax (VAT) to 15 percent from the current 12 percent to resolve the back-to-back budget blowouts last year and this year of around P300 billion a year may further increase the number…

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) expects to lose up to P6 billion this year from the Optional Standard Deduction privilege allowed under RA 9504 or the Minimum Wage Law.

MANILA, Philippines – The Makati Business Club (MBC) has criticized the alleged “instability of government policies and regulations” after the government ordered Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. to pay back taxes.

I have always liked Vicente “Tito” Sotto III. For starters, when my Dad Louie Beltran passed away in 1994, Tito Sotto took over dad’s “Brigada Siete” on GMA 7. Tito Sotto did so with respect and sensitivity to our family.

PRESIDENT Gloria Arroyo’s support for a sales-tax exemption for the elderly may reverse the fiscal improvements she made in office, Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said Friday.

MANILA, Philippines – The chief economist of the House of Representatives has urged lawmakers to freeze 10 pending tax bills that would further erode government revenues and worsen the financial crisis the nation is facing.

GOVERNMENT agencies, state-owned corporations and city governments are among the biggest tax dodgers, according to Internal Revenue.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Finance (DOF) has reiterated its previous position that a bill seeking to grant hefty tax perks to publicly-listed companies operating as a real estate investment trust (REIT) would translate to billions in yearly losses for the government.

PAYING taxes in the Philippines became more burdensome this year, according to a survey done by the World Bank and PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP. This as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was supposed to have raised concern about the country’s ballooning budget deficit and the lack of a clear government plan on how to arrest the deterioration…

THE country’s poor tax effort and the effects of the global financial crisis could derail the government’s quest to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, a government think-tank said. “The country’s tax effort is worrisome. It’s a cause [for] concern because it affects the chance to achieve the MDGs,” Josef Yap, president of…

TSUKIJI and three sister restaurants on Arnaiz Avenue in Makati were temporarily shut down after revenue officials cited them for tax violations.

MANILA – Business taxpayers whose enterprises have been damaged by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng may file for income tax deduction for the losses they incurred, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said during the weekend.

The Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) said recently that the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is the worst among the post-Edsa 1 administration when it comes to government’s revenue generation efforts.

MANILA, Philippines – Overseas Filipino workers have started an online protest against the plan to impose a 5-centavo tax on every text message. At the weekly Kapihan sa Manila Hotel forum, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile vowed yesterday to block the passage of the bill.

MANILA, Philippines – The implementation of a single-tax rate for the so-called sin taxes would help minimize smuggling of imported distilled spirits, the European Commission (EU) and the European Chamber of Commerce said during a recent hearing at the House of Representatives.

MANILA, Philippines – The government lost P125 billion in potential tax revenues from January to July this year as a result of an economic slowdown and the implementation of several tax relief measures, a ranking finance official said.

MANILA, Philippines – The government is losing P300 billion a year through poor tax administration in the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC), opposition Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero said yesterday.

AS OF MAY THIS YEAR, THE GOVernment had spent P579 billion against revenue collection of only P456 billion, leading to a deficit of P123 billion. The government has already revised its deficit target twice this year, as the original full-year target of P102 billion had been exceeded in just the first four months of the…

The government will forego roughly P20 billion in potential revenues this year from the full-year implementation of the tax relief law, which increased the personal exemptions of taxpayers and waived the withholding tax on minimum wage earners.

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES SUPREME COURT MANILA TRADE UNION CONGRESS OF THE PHILIPPINES (TUCP), represented by its President, Democrito T. Mendoza