October 14, 2019
ITAD BIR RULING NO. 028-19
Principle of Reciprocity; Revenue Memorandum Order No. 10-2019
Austrian Embassy
8th Floor, One Orion Building
11th Avenue corner 38th Street
1634 Bonifacio Global City
Gentlemen :
This refers to your requests, indorsed by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Office of Protocol (DFA-OP), for the renewal of Value-Added Tax Certificates 1 for the local purchase of goods and services for the personal use of your embassy personnel. CAacTH
In reply, please be informed that while the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 exempts diplomatic missions (i.e., embassies and consulates) and their diplomatic agents from all dues and taxes, personal or real, national, regional or municipal, they are nevertheless subject to the indirect taxes of a kind which are normally incorporated in the price of goods or services (e.g., VAT).
Nevertheless, under the principle of reciprocity, this Office may grant tax privileges to a foreign embassy and to its members on their local purchases of goods and services, provided that they can submit to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue proof that the foreign government of the concerned embassy...
