Tax bureau calls for checks of gaming firm registrations
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2019 16:14:11 +0000
The tax bureau wants regulators to strictly enforce registration rules for offshore gaming operators amid concerns that the industry has become a conduit for undocumented workers from China.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has asked state-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to verify that the gaming firms have been officially enrolled before the regulator extends their licenses, the Finance department said in a statement.
Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) 78-2018, issued last September, states that all foreign and Philippine-based offshore gaming operators (POGOs), including those with offshore licenses, should register with BIR as a prerequisite.
“All foreign-based and Philippine-based operators, including those that have already been issued an offshore gaming license by Pagcor are required to register with the Bureau of Internal Revenue on or before the commencement of business; or before payment of any tax due; or before or upon filing of any applicable tax return, statement or declaration,” RMC 78-2018 states.
The department said the BIR’s request came after the agency signified its intention to join an interagency task force that aims to check and monitor the number of Chinese nationals working in the online gaming industry.
“We want to trace these Chinese nationals employed by these gaming operators. They allowed us to join the task force because we are asking data from [the Bureau of] mmigration and DOLE (Department of Labor on Employment) on the list of these foreign nationals,” the statement quoted BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa was quoted as saying.
Senate committees have scheduled a hearing this week on the influx of foreign workers, citing reports that over 90 percent of foreigners arrested or charged last year were Chinese and that most of them were involved in illegal gambling.
The hearing was set in connection to Senate Resolution 243, filed in 2016, that called for a congressional inquiry into reports of illegal Chinese workers in ecozones hosting casinos. Another resolution filed last year urged the Senate to probe an “immigration surge” from China that is reportedly taking away jobs from Filipinos.
In announcing the BIR’s call to Pagcor, the Finance department also said that as reiterated under RMC 107-2017, “online activity is sufficient to constitute doing business in the Philippines, thus, a foreign corporation engaged in POGO is considered as resident foreign corporation engaged in business in the Philippines and not a non-resident foreign corporation.”
It also stressed that BIR regional district offices had jurisdiction over the place where POGO head office and/or branches are located.
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