Be updated on our latest insights

This past week has been a roller-coaster ride of emotions for Filipino sports fans like myself. The University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, after more than three decades, are finally back in the UAAP Men’s Basketball finals against the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles. The jubilation was somewhat dampened by the heartbreaking losses of our national basketball team, Gilas, against Kazakhstan and Ira while our national football team, the Azkals, lost the first leg of their semifinals match against Vietnam.

WITH reference to the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act or Train Law, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) recently issued Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 96-2018 on Nov. 29, 2018.

Christmas is definitely here! As an early Christmas blessing to employees, the premium on group health insurance now reverts to being a non-taxable benefit and compensation.

Given the shortage of skilled labor and the potential cost savings involved, more and more organizations are outsourcing their knowledge-intensive businesses to the Philippines and other Asian countries.

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) 48-2018, dated Oct. 24, allowing the use of a tax verification notice (TVN) instead of a letter of authority (LA) to check tax refund claims the BIR considers simple cases that will not require an in-depth audit or investigation.

We are nearing the end of 2018; so many of our tax laws affected by the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law have changed. The reforms, however, are not yet over. We are seeing steady developments in the proposed amendment to the Corporation Code of the Philippines. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have passed on the third and final reading their own versions of bills amending the Corporation Code. As of the date of this publication, the bicameral conference committee session is to reconcile the House and Senate versions.

While some dynamic businesses are reaping the benefits from the introduction of enterprise management software applications, robotics, and advanced business intelligence tools, for others there is a significant risk of being left behind and even making costly strategic errors.

Last November 7, 2018, I talked on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (or Industry 4.0) and its impact on the accounting and assurance professions, as a guest speaker to the 13th Washington SyCip Lecture of the University of Sto. Tomas Alfredo M. Velayo College of Accountancy.