Philippines and Brunei sign agreement to eliminate double Taxation

[ASEAN NOW News]

The Philippines Secretary of Finance and Brunei Darrusalam Minister of Finance have recently signed an agreement aimed at eliminating double taxation and preventing fiscal evasion on taxes on income arising from cross-border transactions between the two Southeast Asian nations.

 

Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah and Secretary of Finance of the Republic of the Philippines Carlos Garcia Dominguez lll. PHOTO: MUIZ MATDANI

 

The agreement was signed by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III and Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr. Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, the Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II of Brunei on Friday, July 16.

 

Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew said that both countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) during His Majesty’s state visit to the Philippines in 2017, to explore opportunities in the emerging global market for Halal products and services, while facilitating Halal export development and promotion programmes between both sides.

 

He added, “I am also encouraged that our trade figures showed an upward trend over the years, whereby in 2020, despite the COVID-19 outbreak, recorded an increase of 18 per cent from the previous year. There are, of course, more opportunities that we should explore to further enhance our trade and investment engagements."

 

Brunei Darussalam has accelerated efforts to develop its non- oil and gas sector by encouraging participations from more foreign direct investment (FDI) and local entrepreneurs. For FDI, we are looking at five clusters – food, information, and communication technology (ICT), tourism, services, and downstream industries, and I certainly welcome investors from the Philippines to explore these business prospects.

 

“Over the past year and a half, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruptions to people’s lives and businesses globally, including Brunei and the Philippines. The international community has come together to carry out collective actions to fight against this common enemy.

 

“To date, although the global economy is starting to recover, we still need to maintain collaboration efforts because of the emergence of new variants and other uncertainties that may derail these positive prospects. I trust that the strengthening of our bilateral cooperation will similarly contribute to our countries’ recovery efforts.

 

“The double taxation agreement (DTA) sends a clear signal to our private sectors that we are committed to creating a conducive and attractive environment to do businesses in each other’s country by providing greater tax certainty, clarifying taxing rights, and eliminating double taxation.”

 

The Ministry of Finance and Economy (MoFE) said in a statement that the signing will facilitate the Government of Brunei Darussalam and Government of Republic of the Philippines in exchanging information, while ensuring greater transparency on tax matters to be in line with developed global standards.

 

“In all, this agreement is indeed a significant step forward in our bilateral ties. This agreement is a significant step forward in enhancing the economic, trade and investment cooperation especially through the private sectors of both countries as they will benefit from the reduction of the tax liability from each jurisdiction,” the MoFE stated.

 

“Furthermore, these agreements will facilitate the Government of Brunei Darussalam and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines to exchange information with regards to taxation matters, according to the internationally agreed tax information exchange standards in which Brunei is committed to implement.”

 

To date, Brunei has signed 20 Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreements (ADTAs)