Digital services tulad ng Netflix, Lazada, Facebook ads, pinabubuwisan

Inihain na sa Kamara ng panukalang batas na layong patawan ng buwis ang digital services tulad ng subscription sa video at music streaming apps, ads sa social media sites at online sales platforms.

Sa House Bill 6765 ni House Committee on Ways and Means chairman at Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, nais nitong mabuwisan ang serbisyo ng movie streaming platform tulad ng Netflix at music streaming platform tulad ng Spotify.

Sinabi ni Salceda na ang subscription fees na kinukolekta ng Netflix o Spotify ay walang buwis sa gobyerno ng Pilipinas.

Kahit ang ads sa Facebook at Google at iba pang katulad nito ay nais ding mapabuwisan.

"Assuming you’re a company that sets up in the Philippines, and you do video-streaming or music-streaming services, you will definitely pay taxes. But companies like Netflix and Spofify don’t. That’s obviously not fair. When you’re a network in the Philippines, advertising services paid to you will be subject to VAT. But Google and Facebook are not subject to VAT for advertising. Ang laki po ng kinikita nila sa mga Pilipino, pero ni isang kusing ng VAT, wala," ani Salceda.

Pinapapatawan na rin ng withholding tax ang lahat ng online sellers at suppliers na gumagamit ng online marketplaces tulad ng Lazada, Shopee at iba pa.

“Internet marketplaces like Lazada and Shopee are growing very rapidly due to COVID-19, but there may be issues of tax compliance among its partners, too. And we are not able to capture that because our current definitions do not include them as withholding agents kahit nahawakan na nila ‘yung pera," dagdag ng kongresista.

Tiniyak naman ni Salceda na maaapektuhan ng pagbubuwis ang mga social media user.

“Kung regular user ka lang naman, hindi ka naman apektado. If anything, these social media platforms need you, the user, to keep using, so that they could earn from digital advertising, the same way TV networks need viewers so they could get advertising contracts. So, the usual social media channels will definitely remain free," ipinunto pa ni Salceda.

Sakaling maisabatas ang panukala, sinabi ni Salceda na pupuwedeng i-block ng gobyerno ang online o digital platforms na hindi magbabayad ng tamang buwis o hindi makasusunod sa mga batas ng pagbubuwis ng Pilipinas.

Inaasahan din na kikita ang gobyerno ng P29.1 bilyon na pupuwedeng pantulong sa COVID-19 response ng gobyerno kapag naipatupad ang digital economy taxation bill.

“Simply put, these are not new taxes. These are tax administration measures that we hope will capture the value more fairly, para pantay naman sa lahat ng negosyo sa Pilipinas. Especially when local businesses are struggling due to COVID-19, and there are these companies that are making a killing because of isolation, but are not paying enough taxes," paglilinaw ng kongresista.