Filtered By: Money
Money

PHL to create interagency database of foreign nationals working in the country


An interagency database of foreign nationals working in the Philippines will be set up by the government, as it seeks to collect more taxes from such workers in the country.

According to the Department of Finance (DOF), the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is now working with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to come up with a joint memorandum circular (MC) that will cover the development of the database.

"Revisions were made to develop an interagency database to be administered by the DOLE," BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay was quoted as saying in a statement released by the DOF.

The announcement comes days after Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the government will start collecting taxes from foreign workers this month, with initial estimates of revenues at P2 billion monthly.

The DOF in April said it wanted to collect an estimated P32 billion in annual income tax from foreign nationals working for Philippine online gaming operators (POGOs).

Citing data from the DOLE and the BI, the DOF said there are 15,176 foreign nationals working in some 174 establishments across the country.

In April, the DOF said some 138,000 of these foreign nationals were working for POGOs.

Working on the assumption that each foreign national earns an average of $1,500 a month and taxed at 25% of gross income, the DOF came up with a rough calculation of P32 a billion a year in income tax collections.

The number, however, does not include data from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and the special economic zones in Bataan and in Aurora. — RSJ, GMA News

LOADING CONTENT