NAGPAHAYAG ng suporta si Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III sa panukalang magpataw ng 5% tax sa kita ng Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).
“Yes, I haven’t seen the exact proposal, but in general, yes. I think that’s a good idea,” wika ni Dominguez.
Komento ito ng kalihim sa plano ni Albay Rep. Joey Salceda na maghain ng bill na naglalayong patawan ng 5% ‘franchise tax’ ang kita ng POGOs.
“But they are already paying a fee. A fee for that,” ani Dominguez.
Sa ilalim ng Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 102-2017 na ipinalabas ng Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), “the entire gross gaming receipts/earnings or the agreed or pre-determined minimum monthly revenues/income from gaming operations under existing rules, whichever is higher, shall be subject to a franchise tax of 5%, in lieu of all kinds of taxes, levies, fees or assessments of any kind, nature or description.”
Ayon kay Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chairman Andrea Domingo, pinag-aaralan nila ang posibilidad ng pagtataas ng share nito mula sa gross gaming revenues ng POGOs sa 2020.
“In the meantime, Pagcor has approved a new method/formula of computing the minimum guarantee fee (MGF) so that it will yield more than double of the existing MGF—that will be a 100% revenue increase,” ani Domingo.
Layunin din ng panukalang batas na irehistro ang POGOs bilang resident corporations, ang basehan para sa taxability.
Bukod sa 5% franchise tax, ipinanukala rin ni Salceda ang pagpapataw ng gaming tax na $10,000 kada buwan per table para sa live set-up casino at $5,000 gaming tax kada buwan para sa random number generator (RNG)-based games.
Tinukoy ang datos mula sa BIR, sinabi ng DOF na sa kasalukuyan ay nakakolekta na ang pamahalaan ng P1.63 billion na withholding taxes mula sa POGOs at kanilang service providers mula Enero hanggang Agosto 2019.
“The online gaming firms paid P175 million in withholding taxes in 2017 and P579 million in 2018,” anang ahensiya.
Sa datos ng BIR, may 218 POGOs at kanilang service providers na may 108,914 foreign workers sa bansa. PILIPINO MIRROR REPORTORIAL TEAM