DOF wants P32B annually in income taxes from foreign workers in gaming ops

The government is eyeing to collect some P32 billion annually from income taxes of foreign nationals working for Philippine online gaming operators (POGOs), the Department of Finance (DOF) said Monday.

Citing data from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI), the DOF said there are some 138,001 foreign nationals working for POGOs.

Broken down, a total of 54,241 were issued alien employment permits (AEPs), while 83,670 were granted special working permits (SWPs).

Working on the assumption that each foreign national earns an average of $1,500 a month and taxed at 25 percent of gross income, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III came up with a rough calculation of P32 billion a year in income tax collections.

The number, however, does not include data from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and the special economic zones (SEZs) in Bataan and in Aurora.

"What you have to do now is to reconcile the entire list. The maximum we know is 138,000. I have a suspicion that this figure is low," said Dominguez.

"Enforce the law so we can collect the tax," he elaborated.

For its part, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa said the agency will start looking into the list presented by the DOLE and the BI.

The BIR is set to check the list and validate how many years the workers have been in the Philippines, and whether they have paid taxes for the last two taxable years.

"Dominguez said he expects the task force to come up with a cleaned-up, reconciled list in 30 days, which is in time for their next meeting," said the DOF. —NB, GMA News