PH, Cambodia begin talks on tax pact
The Philippines and Cambodia have started negotiations for a double taxation agreement (DTA) aimed at boosting investments as well as employment opportunities between the two countries.
In a report, the Bureau of Internal Revenue said Philippine and Cambodian finance and tax officials met on June 26-29 in Manila for the first round of negotiations for the DTA.
The Philippine delegation was led by Finance Undersecretary Antonette C. Tionko and co-chaired by Internal Revenue Deputy Commissioner Marissa O. Cabreros.
According to the BIR, the DTA is “expected to boost cross-border investments between the Philippines and Cambodia, and entry of more Filipino professionals to Cambodia.”
It said there were about 50 Filipinos who were registered stockholders in Cambodian companies. These firms are engaged in the transport of goods and similar services; computer and other related services; call center; market research and public opinion polling; import and export of goods and merchandise; accounting, bookkeeping and tax consultancy; real estate development; software development; garment manufacturing and educational services.
Also, more than 2,500 Filipinos are working in Cambodia as factory workers, teachers, technical and skilled workers, managers, entertainers, engineers and clerks and other service staff.
The Philippines is also eyeing DTAs with Brunei, Laos and Myanmar.
The country has existing DTAs with the five other Asean member-countries—Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.
In February, the Senate ratified the renegotiated DTA with Thailand, which would take effect on Jan. 1, 2019. Those with Mexico and Sri Lanka were also ratified in February.
At present, the Philippines has more than 40 tax treaties—mostly DTAs and tax exchange information agreements—in force.
“If a nonresident has income source in the Philippines and is a resident in another country, he may be liable to pay tax in both countries under their tax laws. To avoid ‘double taxation’ in this situation, the Philippines has negotiated double taxation treaties with [other] countries. A nonresident in another country with which the Philippines has a double taxation treaty may be able to claim exemption or partial relief from the Philippines’ tax on certain types of income from Philippine sources,” the BIR explained on its website.—BEN O.DE VERA
