'New' tax on remittances old provision

Non-governmental organizations has cleared up the reported additional tax on overseas remittances saying this documentary stamp tax is nothing new.

Center for Migrant Advocacy Executive Director Ellene Sana told abs-cbnNEWS.com she verified the matter with the Bureau of Internal Revenue who said it was an old provision in the law.

"I spoke with Atty. Elenita Quimosin, chief of staff of the BIR deputy commissioner and she said even long ago, the documentary stamp tax (DST) has always been part of the taxes on remittances," Sana said.

Sana said overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were probably unaware of Section 181 of RA 8424 (the Comprehensive Tax Reform Act) which says "Upon any acceptance or payment of any bill of exchange or order for the payment of money purporting to be drawn in a foreign country but payable in the Philippines, there shall be collected a documentary stamp tax of Thirty centavos (P0.30) on each Two hundred pesos (P200), or fractional part thereof, of the face value of any such bill of exchange, or order, or the Philippine equivalent to such value, if expressed in foreign currency."

This amount translates to 0.15 percent of the total amount.

OFWs were already in an uproar because of a reported documentary stamp tax, which in actuality was not new. Furthermore, there were some erroneous reports that the DST amounted to 15 percent of remittances but in actuality was only 0.15 percent.

But even before Sana verified the reports, Filipino community leader in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Ronnie Abeto, said "this is actually a hoax email and was created by someone with imagination and plenty of time on his hands.

"Any new tax has to be legislated as an amendment to the Comprehensive Taxation Law which exempts OFWs from paying taxes. If you will check in Senate at Congress website – there is not even one resolution or bill filed or even just a proposal concerning this issue," Abeto said. ABSCBN News

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