The Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Labor Department plan to develop an interagency database of foreign nationals working in the country to effectively monitor them and ensure that they pay correct taxes.
BIR commissioner Caesar Dulay said in a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III that revisions were made to a draft joint memorandum circular on the issuance of work permits to foreigners to include a provision on setting up the database.
“To effectively pursue our mandate [of taxing foreign workers], we need accurate data on foreigners working in the Philippines,” Dulay said during a recent DoF executive committee meeting.
Dulay said the agency had invited the BIR to a meeting to discuss the joint memorandum circular on the issuance of work permits to foreign nationals.
“Revisions were made to develop an inter-agency database to be administered by the Dole,” Dulay said.
The Labor Department earlier said 15,176 foreign nationals had no working permits, but Dulay said several of them were subsequently determined by the BIR to have proper working permits and visas. “Dole was informed of these findings,” Dulay said.
Dulay said the Bureau of Immigration and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. needed to step up their efforts and come up with creative solutions in tracking the entry and employment of foreign nationals in the country.
He said this was necessary to accomplish the goal of coming up with an accurate database of taxable aliens in the Philippines.
Dominguez also said that while the government was focusing on POGOs, the BIR’s mission to ensure that taxes are properly collected would cover all foreign nationals working in the Philippines.