‘Philippines has most tedious tax payment system’

MANILA, Philippines - In the Philippines, it takes 193 hours for a businessman to pay 36 kinds of fees and taxes per year, according to a study.

The average income tax rate and contributions paid by a Philippine employer is 42.5 percent, or six percent higher than the average tax rate in the Asia Pacific.

Citing a study by international audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Sen. Francis Escudero said the Philippines implements one of the most tedious processes for paying taxes in the world and has the highest income tax rate in Asia.

A study done by PwC ranked the Philippines 127th among 189 economies reviewed in terms of ease of paying business taxes. Thailand is ranked 62nd and Malaysia is 32nd.

“The Philippines is just three notches above Sierra Leone and 12 notches above Sudan in the rankings. In fact, it’s even easier to pay taxes in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. What does that say about us?” Escudero asked.

“Where else will you find a country that taxes its people severely and then makes it hard for them to pay?” he said.

The study, called “Paying Taxes 2015,” is an annual research done by PwC and is included in the “Doing Business” project by the World Bank Group. It measures the ease of paying taxes across economies by assessing the time it takes for a medium-size company to prepare, file and pay its taxes; the number of taxes that a company has to pay; the method of payment; and the total tax liability as a percentage of its commercial profits.

The PwC study measured corporate income and other profit taxes, labor taxes, property taxes, dividend taxes, capital gains taxes, road and vehicle taxes, waste collection taxes, and other fees and social contributions required of employers.

According to PwC, the results of paying taxes illustrate both successful tax reforms and reform challenges and provide a platform for government and business to engage in constructive discussion around tax reform across a broader range of issues.

The United Arab Emirates and Qatar shared the top spot for ease of payments, requiring only four payments that could be done in 12 hours in the UAE and 41 hours in Qatar.

Saudi Arabia ranked third with three payments that could be accomplished in 64 hours.

Bolivia had the worst tax payment procedure with 42 tax payments requiring 1,025 hours.

Hong Kong ranked fourth in the PwC study, with only three tax payments, while Singapore ranked fifth, with five tax payments.

“How can we encourage investors to come and put their money here when a third of that will go to taxes that will be difficult to pay?” Escudero said.

The senator reiterated the need to legislate tax reforms not only to lower the income taxes paid by individuals and businesses but also to streamline the process of payment to encourage non-salaried workers and micro-, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to pay due taxes.

Escudero also urged Filipinos to make tax reforms an election issue so that more leaders would throw their support behind legislative efforts to amend the Tax Reform Act of 1997.