The much-awaited promise to the Filipino taxpayers and one of the government’s crown jewels, the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN), took effect on Jan. 1.
My employed friend recently requested me to compute her annual income tax due for the prior year 2017. Her gross compensation from her lone employer was less than P250,000. I arrived at her annual income tax due after deducting the taxes withheld by her employer. I told her then that, if she receives the same amount of compensation this year, there will be no more withholding tax and annual income tax due. To my surprise, her employer continuously withheld tax on her January and February 2018 salary, even if she has been receiving the same monthly salary since last year. This was despite the passage and effectivity of the TRAIN Law effective Jan. 1, 2018 and notwithstanding the other pertinent issuances by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) early this year. Her employer explained that their reason for the continuous withholding was that they were still waiting for the BIR’s specific guidelines on implementing the new compensation tax rule in the TRAIN law.
We are about to enter the fourth month of implementation of the TRAIN law and, to this day, taxpayers still have questions about withholding taxes. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) finally issued Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 11-2018, discussing some amendments to withholding tax regulations (i.e., RR No. 2-98, as amended) effective Jan. 1, 2018.
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) director-general announced that sales of goods and services to PEZA-registered entities shall continue to be subject to 0% VAT.
The term “tax net” refers to “the mechanism for ensuring that people and companies pay their taxes.”
According to the October 2000 Awake! magazine article, “Is It Wise to Invest in the Stock Market?,” “the apparent ease of trading stocks online and gaining access to information previously reserved for brokers and professional traders has prompted many individual investors to take up day trading, the buying, and selling of stocks full-time.
The passage of Package 1 of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law is considered by many a welcome change, particularly to individual taxpayers.
Since Republic Act No. 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law took effect on Jan. 1, the implementation of certain provisions of the law has become an endless topic in various fora especially amongst taxpayers who are greatly affected. To ensure that the TRAIN will smoothly reach its destination, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has been very proactive in addressing the concerns of bewildered taxpayers through public consultations, seminars, and various issuances. In fact, five revenue regulations (RRs) and a number of revenue memorandum circulars (RMCs) have been issued since January to implement certain provisions of this new law. This notwithstanding, taxpayers still find themselves in the dark in the absence of formal implementing rules and regulations, especially on income tax and value-added tax (VAT).
