October 14, 2019
ITAD BIR RULING NO. 029-19
Principle of Reciprocity; Revenue Memorandum Order No. 10-2019
Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium
9th Floor, Multinational Bancorporation Center
6805 Ayala Avenue
1200 Makati City
Gentlemen :
This refers to your requests, indorsed by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Office of Protocol (DFA-OP), for the renewal of the Value-Added Tax Exemption Certificate (VEC) 1 of your diplomatic personnel on local purchase of goods and services for their personal use. IAETDc
In reply, please be informed that while the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 exempts diplomatic missions (i.e., embassies and consulates) and 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 local purchases of goods and services, provided that they can submit to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue proof that the government of the concerned embassy...
