Phl, Italy ink pact on double taxation

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines and Italy signed a renegotiated version of an agreement on double taxation avoidance and the prevention of tax evasion, a move that is seen to pave the way for the eventual removal of the country from Italy’s blacklist of tax havens.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and Italian Ambassador to the Philippines Massimo Roscigno led the signing of the amended Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) at the Department of Finance.

“We welcome the signing of the Philippine-Italy double taxation agreement as a positive step towards competitiveness and fairness in taxation between our countries. We hope that with this move, the Italian authorities would remove the Philippines from its blacklist of tax havens, for the benefit of Italians residing in the Philippines, and the Filipinos in Italy who comprise the fourth largest immigrant nationality,” Purisima said.

Both countries agreed to amend Article 25 of the Italy-Philippines DTA on the exchange of information, incorporating changes in the tax system of Italy. The amendment was in accordance with the current tax treaty model of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations.

Last August, the Philippines was stricken off the French government’s blacklist of non-cooperative countries with respect to tax evasion and money laundering.

The Philippines climbed several notches in the World Bank and International Finance Corp.’s global tax rankings, placing 131st out of the total 189 countries.  This was a significant improvement from the country’s previous position (143rd), thanks to BIR’s implementation of electronic facilities for tax payments.