BIR mulls tax on online shopping operators

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is setting its sights on online shopping operators that snatch more market share in the retail sector but do not pay taxes to the government.

BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa said yesterday that web-based stores are currently among the tax leakages that the agency wants to capture and place on the bureau’s radar.

Guballa said the Department of Finance (DOF) already instructed the BIR to study the so-called digital economy, where tax leakages are seem to be “substantial.”

“We’re seeing the growing market share of online sellers, but we have not estimated yet the tax leakages we have in this line of business, but it should be substantial given the large number of goods being purchased or sold online,” Guballa told reporters.

He explained that online shopping is becoming popular among Filipinos as webbased retailers offer cheaper deals than the traditional brick-and-mortar stores.

“All our online shopping orders are cheaper because we don’t get recipients. They don’t issue receipts because they don’t pay taxes to the BIR,” Guballa said, noting web purchases are also subject to 12 percent value-added tax.

On Thursday, the BIR along with the DOF closed down a warehouse in Guiguinto, Bulacan operated by a popular online shopping service.

Guballa, who declined to name the online shopping operator, said the BIR shuttered the warehouse after failing to register with the bureau.

The online shopping warehouse were among the facilities in Bulacan ordered for temporarily closure for violating certain provisions under the national internal revenue code.