September 22, 2021

MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines’ reduce property of Congress has authorised a bill imposing taxes on tech giants like Facebook, Alphabet’s Google and Youtube, and Netflix.

Voting 167-6-1, lawmakers late on Tuesday approved on third and closing looking through a monthly bill imposing a 12% value-additional tax (VAT) on digital transactions in the Philippines.

It will involve foreign-based electronic service providers to evaluate, collect and remit VAT on the transactions that go through their system.

In July 2020, a decrease residence committee accredited the invoice, which will tax firms that deliver digital service or products by way of an on the net platform. A related bill has been submitted to the Senate.

The monthly bill aims to increase 29 billion pesos ($579 million) to assist fund federal government steps to combat the coronavirus.

The Philippines is a rising sector for large tech firms, withFilipinos among the the heaviest social media end users in the earth.

Alphabet, Fb, Netflix, Spotify and Alibaba’s Lazada did not quickly answer to requests for remark.

It follows equivalent moves by other Southeast Asian nations around the world to make revenues from well-liked electronic providers.

Past year, Indonesia imposed a 10% VAT on revenue by engineering corporations. Early this thirty day period, Thailand commenced collecting VAT from overseas tech businesses.

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales Editing by Martin Petty)