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MANILA - How will the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) nab online sellers that do not pay taxes? Deploy taxmen to pose as online buyers.
"You know, they are the ones that are hard to capture, the transactions via the Internet. We do not have to put up a new mechanism. All we have to do is to identify them," BIR Deputy Commissioner Nelson Aspe told InterAksyon.com.
"Kung ako lang ang tatanungin, I will pose as a buyer. Then find out kung ano ang ini-issue nilang dokumento. Then siguro probably after identifying these guys via the Internet, then advise them what are your obligations. You should level up with the other tax payers," Aspe said.
"Pag hindi nya ginawa, I will set up a trap," he added.
The lack of a paper trail, which the BIR uses in filing tax evasion cases, will not deter the agency from running after online sellers that violate the Tax Code.
According to Aspe, the covert surveillance is the job of district offices.
The BIR said online sellers using Facebook and other sites must be registered with the bureau and issue receipts or invoices.
Online sellers do not issue such documents or are not even registered with the BIR since most of them just sell their used items online as a way to unload old things or as a hobby, as Mariel, a Facebook seller, said in a previous InterAksyon.com article.
"Eh di na ko magbebenta. Marami nang matatakot. Binebenta mo P500 pero gagastos ka ng libo pag nag-register ka sa BIR, sa business permit. Ano yun? Eh used item na nga yun na you're trying to get rid to clear your house of clutter," Kenneth (not his real name), an online seller on ebay.ph, told InterAksyon.com.
RJ David, co-founder and managing director of Sulit.com.ph, said the BIR might have missed a crucial factor in its efforts to go after online sellers: most of these traders are either one-time or small-time sellers that transact offline, which means they do not earn a recurring or significant profit from their transactions.
David said there should be clear-cut guidelines as to which kinds of sellers will be taxed, instead of just a “blanket” pronouncement coming from the BIR.
Kenneth, the online seller, said the problem with the BIR is that it could not even catch the big-time tax evaders so they are now "preying" on small-time sellers of second-hand items since they are powerless to defend themselves from the taxmen.
"Pag nahuli na nila yung big-time tax evaders, saka nila singilin yung maliliit," he added.
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