Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Understanding how the Philippines taxes online sellers


Individuals and businesses who are engaged in online selling in the Philippines should take careful note of how the country’s Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collects taxes from these types of entities.
Those entities that are conducting business through online transactions are required to register at their local Revenue District Office and pay a registration fee. Once this has been completed, a BIR Certificate of Registration will be issued – this document will make clear the types of tax that need to be filed and paid by the taxpayer. An additional requirement is that online sellers must be granted an Authority to Print for invoices, receipts, and register books of accounts. The types of official invoices and receipts that are required to be issued include: Sales invoices; delivery receipts; charge invoices; and other commercial receipts for goods or services.
Another additional requirement states that online sellers must withhold the required creditable/expanded withholding tax, final tax, tax on compensation of employees, and other withholding taxes.  Once this has been done, the revenue collected must be remitted to the BIR and the customers should be issued a Certificate of Tax Withheld.
In order to show proof of income and expense, all taxpayers, including online sellers, are required to issue official invoices and receipts for each sale of goods and services rendered over the amount of PHP25 (US$0.57). Failure to issue these receipts could result in serious repercussions, such as the suspension of the business by the BIR.
Information returns and other tax compliance reports (ex. Summary List of Sales/Purchases) must be submitted as required by existing rules and regulations
This tax on online sellers came about because the Philippine government was looking to widen its attempts at building a larger tax base with which to build state revenues.  The BIR has stated that “it has become imperative to remind the parties in these online business transactions of their tax obligations,” since the internet has become “the vogue medium not only for business advertisements but also for the conduct of online business transactions, including online retailing through virtual shopping malls, online market places, web stores, and similar websites (online stores).” (Source: Aseanbriefing.com)
DOLE: Get experience and skills; join Christmas season job fairs
Secretary of Labor and Employment Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz yesterday bared more job fair schedules nationwide for the fourth quarter of 2014, which promise thousands of decent job matching opportunities for graduates and other jobseekers during the Christmas season.
The labor and employment chief said that the tentative fair schedules are available at the Phil-JobNet link of the Bureau of Local Employment at www.phil-job-net.
Baldoz, encouraging jobseekers to pursue their ‘dream jobs’, said:
“I am also heartened that our Regional Offices located in Yolanda affected areas, such as Region 6, 7, and 8, have scheduled job fairs. I know that our offices in these regions will be offering job opportunities to the calamity victims. Remembering that fateful day of 8 November 2013 and the way we at the DOLE acted to support the affected regions warms my heart.”
She reiterated that Republic Act 8759, or the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) Act, directs that job fairs shall be conducted “periodically all over the country to bring together in one venue jobseekers and employers for immediate matching.”
In effect, such fairs bring decent job opportunities to the grassroots and protect jobseekers from the threats and perils posed by illegal recruiters and human traffickers.
The Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) reported to Baldoz that the DOLE’s Statistical Performance Reporting System (SPRS), recorded some 337,383 jobseekers from January to June this year.
Significantly, nearly 550 job fairs have been conducted during the same period.
With some 8,250 employers participating, these resulted in 27,050 jobseekers being hired on-the-spot (HOTS), an average of three per establishment that participated in the job fairs.
During the 2014 Labor Day celebrations alone, the BLE reported that 65 job fairs were simultaneously held in all 16 regions of the country. Nearly 14,180 jobseekers were hired on that single-day job fairs.
Philippines: Farmers trained on new garlic technology
The Department of Agriculture has tapped the services of MMSU, along with five other state agencies, to help revive the ailing Ilocos garlic and allotted some P10-M for a sustainable seed support project. The other agencies are the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte, DA-BAR, ILAARRDEC, PhilRice-Batac, and the Bureau of Plant Industry.
Dr. Prima Fe R. Franco, MMSU’s vice president for research and extension, said the increase in the production of high quality garlic bulbs in the province will be realized through a sustainable seed support system which will be jointly implemented by MMSU and the implementing agencies.
Under the proposed program, the university will give the farmers an interest-free loan of garlic planting materials to be used in their succeeding garlic planting seasons. These materials shall be returned just after harvest. Last cropping season, the university planted five hectares of its more than 200-hectare production area in the main campus solely for high quality garlic varieties such as the Ilocos White, Cabuyao, Ilocos Pink, and Tan Bolters.
Working in partnership with the other agencies, the university is now stepping up moves to enhance the capability of the garlic growers in producing high quality planting materials so that they could sustain the garlic seed system in the province.
Going through the same vein is the plan to expand the area planted with garlic through this scheme; and strengthen the linkages among farmers, government agencies and non-government organizations to improve the producers’ marketing scheme.
MMSU President Miriam E. Pascua urged the farmers to support this program of reviving the province’s reputation as producer of biggest and high quality garlic bulbs in the country.
“Although imported garlic is destroying the price of the locally produced variety, we should still raise the standard of our own product in terms of quality and volume,” she said adding that “we may be left behind in the size, but the quality is way above those being produced in other countries.”
She assured the farmers that the university is continuing its efforts to improve its researches on garlic which will include some value-added products such as garlic oil, powder, medicine, and other pharmaceutical products.

“Researches are now underway to utilize garlic as medicine. There is a move to produce capsulized garlic as cure of high blood pressure,” she said. (Source: mmsu.edu.ph)

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