Living In The Philippines

[mystic]

Ooooooooohhhhhhh.... yes, very discouraging. But I think it happens in all the world, maybe except in the US. In Italy you really never understand what taxes you have to pay. You must pay book-keepers, coz you cannot do it yourself, and they always mistake getting you fines. But they never respond.

Well, having a company in another country and invoicing in the PI is the easiest thing to do. You hand down a foreign invoice to the people instead of a local invoice If the government chases you, you demonstrate that you don't reside in the PI in a stable way.

[jadegil6]

If you are going to be in business in the Philippines, then you must do it with extreme caution because so many people there will have their hands out wanting a share of your income.
If you have an online business, then you can get paid through a PayPal account, and have that transferred into a foreign bank. Then you can write yourself a check from that account as a deposit into a Philippine bank. That sort of transaction (dollar account) takes one month to clear, but you pay no money exchange fee, and there are some banks that have no bank fees for those deposits. Another alternative is to use Xoom (not available in all countries) to send yourself money in the Philippines from your checking account. It takes a few days, costs a modest fee, and you will lose a little in exchange rates, but it is much cheaper than getting money from an ATM..
For an online business income taxes would be due to your home country, but not to the Philippines.

[mystic]

Concerning business income taxes, you have to do a good planning. First, if all dividends are paid to business owners, the company profits are kept to zero, and there is not tax since there is no capital gain. If the business owner is a non resident (i.e. he resides in another country for over 6 months in a year), he pays no tax in the company country.

Also, a company that makes all its income abroad pays no tax. The US are also a tax heaven for foreigners. Wyoming, Nevada, Delaware corporations are routinely sold in all the world just because there is no income tax for foreigners (unless you do business in the US).

So, if you live around the world, it doesn't make sense to pay local taxes where your company is located. You could open your company in Canada, have the company bank account in Panama, and do business in the US, for example, avoiding legally any tax. I'm not saying that this combination works (I'm not such an expert), but you can study how to do. I know one person who lives in Panama now, who did something like this.

I don't think that it's a problem for a company in the PI to receive an invoice from abroad. So, it should be possible to work a scheme that allows you to bypass the restrictions in the PI.

[crisipicada]

I am not good in business, so I do not know how it really works.

[jadegil6]

It seems that people have been living in the Philippines a lot longer than most of us thought. According to an article I read in the news today, there were people living about 90 miles away from present day Manila about 5000 years ago. There are carvings in the stone walls that date back that far, and now those carvings are in jeopardy of being lost forever. As development in the area continues, the stone carvings are now surrounded by urbanization. The land is owned by a real estate developer, and although he has designated the stone that contains the carvings as a protected area, there is now a road only 33 feet from the carvings. So much of the nearby area has been cleared for development that now the winds and rains are having a more dramatic effect on the carvings, as well as vandalism. There have been some paint spraying on the wall as well as some cuts into the stone which were made recently.
The area is near Binangonan, Philippines. It is known as "the Angono Petroglyphs", and were discovered by a boy scout leader and his troops out on a hike in 1965. These are drawings of people, animals and geometric figures, and it has been determined that this was an ancient place of worship. This is the oldest artwork in the Philippines, but now it is in jeopardy of being lost forever. Little else is known about the figures, or the people who etched them. And little has been done to prevent the deterioration of this national treasure.

Angono Petroglyphs

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[wayne208]

I Hope that the Carvings are saved . Who Truly Knows when they were put into stone ? But to loose these Carvings would be a serious blow to All of the People of not only The Philippines but the World .. I hope that someone can decipher them and let Us All know what they say .The Indians Have left Carvings here in The U.S . in Walls of Caves . Who knows for sure How they got their ?

[m&m]

I love our Country, Philippines. There is a saying, "Love your own". I am not really like other people who wanted to explore the world. If given the chance to see the world in due time, then I would be glad and I will take this opportunity to witness people about Jesus Christ.

I am not materialistic either. But I desire that life will improve and even in problems and difficulties, I would be glad to accept it. Because I know that life is not about how to gain material things but how you use time and things the Lord has entrusted.

[angel]

yes love your country first i agree with you m&m. i love to travel around the world if ever i win in a lottery hahaha ( but i dont try to bet in a lottery here) hahaha. if one day i will try it, for me it useless to bet in a lotto i dont think theres a winner there. anyways, many beautiful places here even here in our city many resorts and beaches was nice and cheap

[m&m]

We love our country because we do not know what life could be on the other places, maybe if we would be able to go to other places, we wil be able to adjust and love also. that is where we can compare then.

[cheryz]

i agree in both of you angel and m&m, love our country before other country yes thats true many treasure places here in philippines.
some people try there luck in other countries because they have work and maybe there have families out there waiting for them and also with there love ones.