Philippines
Predictions
- Economic strain of pandemic will hasten unilateral introduction of digital taxes, increasing compliance burden for multinationals
- Government will look to capitalise on increased demand for online services and anticipated long-term growth of online shopping platforms
- Acute need to broaden tax base due to rising deficit means digital tax bill will receive strong political backing
Event
Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. introduced a bill on 19 May calling for the Senate Committee on Ways and Means to consider collecting taxes from multinational online streaming services and the digital economy more broadly. This came a day after Joey Salceda, who heads the committee, suggested firms including Netflix, Google, Facebook, Spotify and AirBnB, as well as online shopping platforms such as Lazada and Shopee, should pay VAT on local sales, electronic services and digital advertising hosted on their platforms.
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