Tax-free shopping eyed for visitors
Foreign visitors could soon enjoy tax-free shopping in the Philippines if the Finance department has its way.
“We don’t have the system at the moment, but we are certainly going to do it. And it should be in place some time in two years,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd told members of a hotel owners association on Tuesday.
Value-added tax (VAT) refunds for foreign tourists are offered by countries like Singapore, Japan and Thailand. The money can be claimed before leaving the country if purchases reach a certain amount.
No measures proposing VAT refund for tourists have been filed in Congress and Dominguez said an e-invoicing system would also have to be established before tax-free shopping was allowed.
“Definitely there’s a possibility for us to outsource the system but our problem at the moment is we don’t have an e-invoicing system, which we are currently working on,” he said.
The Finance chief said that assistance from the South Korean government would be used to put up the system.
“We have gotten a grant from the Korean government to study an e-invoicing system and our plan is to put this in place by 2020. So we have a lot of space to do that,” he said.
The Philippines has been given a $41-million grant from South Korea for the implementation of an Electronic Receipt, Invoice and Sales Reporting System that will help the country improve its revenue-monitoring mechanisms.
“We really targeted Koreans because they have a very efficient system, which they have developed over at least five years,” Dominguez said.
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