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Telecommunication companies in the country are “undertaxed” and
the government should find a way for it to tax them properly, an
official of the National Telecommunication Commission disclosed on
Monday.
Lawyer Jaime Fortes, the agency’s deputy
commissioner, said the Bureau of Internal Revenue should investigate
the telecommunication firms and find out if they are paying correct
taxes.
According to him, these companies pay
value-added tax, or VAT, on prepaid cards that they sell to
mobile-phone users. Fortes, however, said the commission does not
know if the telecommunication companies also pay value-added tax on
cardless, or so-called electronic, loading that they offer
customers.
Although prepaid cards still are in use, most of
prepaid-card subscribers have switched to electronic loading because
it is more affordable and flexible.
“We don’t know if these companies are paying
VAT on electronic loading. [If they are not], is the [Internal
Revenue bureau] capable of taxing these transactions [made through
electronic loading]?” Fortes asked.
He urged the bureau to monitor electronic
loading being offered by the telecommunication companies to enable
the government to collect proper taxes from them.
The telecommunication commission is
investigating television stations that use text messaging in its
programs to find out if they violate telecommunication laws and the
Consumer Protection Act.
-- Jefferson Antiporda
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