THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) warned online shopping platforms to follow the order on imposing withholding tax on online sellers and to only allow BIR-registered shops on its sites.
BIR commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. said all online merchants must be registered with the bureau regardless of size and earnings. He also reminded electronic marketplace operators to impose a 1 percent creditable withholding tax on half of the gross remittances to online sellers. This policy started on July 15 this year.
Lumagui said, “Kung hindi magrehistro ang mga online sellers, dapat hindi payagan magbenta sa platforms.”
“’Pag hindi nila tanggalin ang lahat ng mga online sellers na hindi rehistrado, pati sila pwede ma-shutdown,” he added.
The BIR chief has also said that based on talks with some of the popular online shopping platforms, all have expressed support for the new policy.
Lumagui said the new policy is needed to help the economy. He expects billions in pesos of additional revenues because of this new order. This will also help them understand and quantify the online selling sector in the country.
This also levels the playing field for businesses, he said, because those with physical shops are also paying taxes. The new policy will help existing legitimate businesses and consumers as well.
“Yung mga involved sa brick and mortar stores, nagbabayad ‘yan ng buwis. Bakit ang online sellers patuloy ang pagrereklamo nila dito. Dapat mag-comply na lang din sila, dahil tutal lahat ng nagnenegosyo nagbabayad dapat ng buwis,” he said.
BIR is targeting over P3 trillion in tax collection this year. They are banking on this new policy as well as revenues from the Vape Law to help boost tax collection in the second half of the year. (ABS-CBN News)
