Department of Finance (DOF) secretary Carlos Dominguez III has directed the country’s main revenue-generating agencies — the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) — to fortify their respective systems against hacking and other cyber threats as he expressed concern over the increasing number of scams perpetrated online against financial consumers.
To help SMEs and artists with their tax duties, Taxumo has begun accepting cryptocurrency as a method of payment for tax dues, as well as subscription upgrades within the platform.
The BIR recently issued a circular reminding social media influencers to register and pay their taxes. To explain what it means to ordinary folks, online tax filing platform Taxumo prepared a short explainer.
The government needs to adopt a well-thought-out strategy and policy package in taxing the digital economy, according to the deputy commissioner of BIR’s legal group.
DOF secretary Carlos Dominguez made the declaration as he signed with US Embassy in the Philippines a $809,450.00 grant agreement for the BIR’s ICT Modernization Strategy and Data Center Project.
GCash saw the value of transactions for payments to the BIR increased by 117 percent to P574.89 million in the first half of 2020 from P265.19 million the year prior.
The Department of Finance (DOF) said tax payments made through electronic channels last year amounted to P1.8 trillion, which was 84 percent of the total collections of the BIR.
Badly needing revenues to arrest the slide of the local economy, the government is moving to introduce tax on the digital economy, particularly on video-streaming companies and large online sellers.
