‘Make doing business easier for online sellers’

THE Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) has urged government agencies to make doing business easier for online sellers, whose profile and potential to contribute more to state revenues were raised amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

In a statement on Friday, ARTA said the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Departments of Trade and Industry (DTI) and of the Interior and Local Government, and Securities and Exchange Commission met to discuss how to make business registration more efficient during the ongoing public health crisis.

The meeting was part of ARTA’s to help make it easier for online sellers to do business.

This comes after the BIR issued on June 1 Revenue Memorandum Circular 60-2020. The circular reiterates the obligations of persons conducting business and making transactions through digital means, including online retailers, to register with the tax agency pursuant to Section 236 of the Tax Code.

ARTA supports the government’s initiative to require online sellers to register. But with the deadline for registration set for July 31, the agency said it wanted to ensure that people
would accomplish the process easily and efficiently, given the pandemic.

“We need to find a winnable and rational solution. As in our mandate, let us pursue a whole-of-government approach in promoting efficiency, but without sacrificing public interest,” ARTA Director General Jeremiah Belgica said.

“Let us be mindful that many of these online sellers could even be exempted to pay income tax having an annual income of less than P280 000, so we also need to make their registration process seamless and almost effortless, especially during this pandemic,” he added.

Besides meeting with the abovementioned state agencies, ARTA will also hold a stakeholders’ meeting for online sellers in the coming weeks to discuss pertinent matters in their business registration experience.

Increased attention

Public attention paid to enterprises who conduct business online have increased since March, when the government put Luzon under enhanced community quarantine to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the country.

The lockdown forced many people to stay home to avoid being infected by the coronavirus.

It also severely restricted economic activities in the country, including selling products or services in person. As a result, many businesses that are considered nonessential were forced to suspend operations, while some started to do business online to keep themselves afloat.

This led to a perceived boom in online business transactions, and to government attention to them and their potential contribution to the country’s economy.

After the BIR released the circular in mid-June, a number of lawmakers appealed to the
government to give leeway to online sellers, instead of punishing them by imposing taxes.

Sen. Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros urged the bureau to withdraw and review its plan to impose tax on online sellers, since it required them to spend about P4,000 to register to avoid penalties.

One of her colleagues, Sen. Emmanuel “Joel” Villanueva, agreed, saying that instead of cracking the whip on online sellers, the government should help them.

Most online sellers earn just enough to provide for their basic needs, he added.

But the DTI urged online businesses to register with the government, calling it key to consumer protection.

“There is greater traceability if online sellers are registered, and this increases the trust factor and confidence of the online buyers in making the transaction online,” Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said on June 19.

WITH A REPORT FROM BERNADETTE TAMAYO