Philippines Targets Year-End Conclusion for Oman, Singapore Tax Talks

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is looking to conclude negotiations for double taxation agreements (DTAs) with several countries this year, including Singapore and Oman, the Department of Finance said. “So far, Singapore and Oman are hard stops. Hopefully, Luxembourg will also be one round. But it all depends on both delegations,” Finance Assistant Secretary Euvimil Nina Asuncion told reporters. DTAs are bilateral agreements designed to prevent or mitigate double taxation on taxpayers who have tax obligations in multiple jurisdictions, according to law firm Respicio & Co. Currently, the Philippines has around 40 DTAs with multiple countries, according to the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The Philippines and Oman are still in the scheduling stage; Manila has secured the necessary special authorities but is still awaiting the President’s approval to proceed with the negotiations, Asuncion said. The government hopes to conclude the Oman negotiations within the year and is targeting one round of talks, she said. “What we usually do is we have pre-negotiation meetings. We’re able to threshold the ready items prior to the actual negotiations. Hopefully in that one round, we just confirm the items that we previously agreed upon and then do the more technical discussion on the items that are hanging from that pre-negotiation meeting,” Asuncion said. “The usual issue would be on business profits and then the definition of what permanent establishment is. But I don’t think that we would have that much issue with the Oman DTA,” she said. In addition, the DOF official said the government is set to hold the second round of negotiations in Singapore in the last week of September.