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In the Philippines are foreigners taxed?

Discussion in 'Migrating to the Philippines' started by CatchFriday, Apr 1, 2025.

  1. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    Yeah I understand, just bear in mind that deposit protection is very poor in Philippine banks, if you end up with that much after capital gains tax you would likley qualify for an international ex-pat account with the likes of HSBC which would allow you to open an account in the UK and then get another HSBC account in the Philippines and transfer money between them, your income would probably not be large enough to qualify but I'm fairly sure you would get it on the absolute wealth metric.

    At least HSBC are an international bank and far less likely to go under even though they are a pretty shady bank with a history of criminal dealings.
  2. John Surrey
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    John Surrey Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    I haven't look in to it in detail but I'm assuming they let you put it in a vault in the UK which of course they will charge you for.
  3. Br28016
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    Br28016 Active Member Trusted Member

    Need 100k (used to be 50k) deposited with HSBC in uk to get their premier account although that includes stock market investments through their online platform. Income requirements have also gone up

    Premier account then allows opening of accounts elsewhere including Philippines. Downside is that there are only limited locations. Think it is six.

    Also worth being aware that they are in process of restructure. Not sure on impact.
  4. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    Yeah I was aware of that, although I think the last numbers I saw were 75k, I gave up thinking about HSBC years ago I'm not transferring my pension into any of their investments.

    Was aware of the restructuring but I would expect they will still want their paws on people with even relatively small wealth, their focus is likely to move back to Asia.

    I just reckoned that for anyone with enough cash savings HSBC is likely the best option in the Philippines in the event of Global war.
  5. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    You can hold it yourself or they can hold it for you, with global unrest probably better not to have it in someone else's vault although God knows what use the damn stuff is when civilization has collapsed.

    By far the vast majority of the gold in the solar system was created in the merger of two neutron stars more than 4.3 billion years ago no way to say exactly how long ago, it's fascinating stuff and very pretty but you can't eat it.

    edit: I think they'll hold it for you for free they probably make their money on the spread, their margin on the selling price they will offer you in the future.

    Not sure.
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2025
  6. HONEST DAVE
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    HONEST DAVE Active Member

    Hi Larry, For as much as there has been some good useful information given to you from members on this site and given with the best of intentions, much of this can be misleading? there is so much information to be had here from members that have NEVER lived there in PH for any great deal of time, it is kind of like take my advice I'm not using it and never likely to do so? Yes these Eejits can be all light hearted and encouraging for you to make this move but have no actual clue of what they are talking about?

    Actually what is real over there is; This is the land of the STUPID more so than you can ever imagine, in my 8 years of living there I had many dealings with so called professionals including medical staff, when it comes to treating Foreigners they are out to extract as much money as they can from them, OK you may think they have a Medical Degree, but this can be bought there as can a driving License and just about anything else that may be required. I had a diagnosis and treatment there involving top specialists at a high cost which turned out to be all wrong! on a quick visit back to UK my own GP was soon to sort this out. many people have died over there including Foreigners at the hands of medical staff there, it has been mentioned that there is good medical facilities in Dumaguete, I lived there and this is where I built the house, unless there has been changes made in more recent times anyone in that location with a heart problem had to be referred to Cebu and if of a more serious nature they had to be flown to Manila. Btw, travel there by road is never any faster than 25mph.
    I built a house over there and had dealings with Planners, Architects and structural Engineers all of these guys were Fecking clueless, OK I was to present a problem to them and this was; I wanted a house that was fully insulated with a cool roof more suited to the climate there, this was the very first any of them had heard of such a ridicules suggestion, when I was to write about this on various Ex-pat forums I was to get much the same response, If truth be told an insulated house is correct to just about any other location no matter where it is in the world, but so many Ex-pats there refused to accept that, anyway I did build this house to much of my requirements and this has no AC fitted and does not require it.

    Having said all the above I did enjoy my time living there but some health issues and running out of money after building the house forced me to return back to UK, however I would imagine Spain must be a better place to live? perhaps having less humidity and overall that bit cooler, you mentioned the healthcare service there is better than UK, if that is the case DO NOT consider moving the the Philippines as Healthcare there is about as bad as it gets. there is a whole host of other negative reasons apart from what I have mentioned above, but the one other I should mention is; Noise Pollution this is just one other thing that must be about as bad as it can get.
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  7. CatchFriday
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    CatchFriday British Expat living in Alicante, Spain

    I was given some wrong advice in Spain re tax. my tax bill is actually €272 for the year, which is claimable from the UK.
    My mother-in-law is currently in hospital in the Philippines and the cost is £4000 for cholecystectomy for 8 days in a private hospital.
    My wife wants us to visit the Philippines, and i haven't met them yet (married 5 years now). Of course I have been several times before.
    Very close to making a deal and i have ordered Sky link roaming to take with us. It really depends with the deal coming in. Fingers crossed. Then
    we will have BUPA International cover.
    I once had a POEA agency - bought a shell for around £60,000 - put a family member in charge learnt how to loose all.
    Taxes in Spain could go up to 53% if the deal comes in.....
    I know what the Philippines is a face culture.
    If I ever go out there i must get your advice, now I am almost 72....... my wife owns three houses, I wouldn't live in them though.
    Always interesting to get feedback here.
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  8. HONEST DAVE
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    HONEST DAVE Active Member

    Hi Again,

    In some ways I have been very fortunate in my life and strange as this may seem I never did earn a lot of money having a Job that only paid perhaps a little under the UK average wage mind you the cost of living in Scotland is less than most other areas of UK, so I am just an ordinary working man with my feet firmly planted on the ground.

    From the many posts I have read on this site it seems to me that a retiree with a good nest egg can come with its own share of problems that I do not have?

    The big learning curve for me as to life in PH was the building of my house there, I did a lot of work myself to the house but also had Pinoys to do all the heavy lifting and any works that required the use of Cement, but these so called tradesmen were so unbelievably useless, then I had a couple of professional company's in to do work one of which was fitting the PVC windows, well I had to stand over these guys and give them advice and even had to show them how to apply silicone which they were doing no better than an amateur. Btw I was never in the building trades being a Telephone Engineer for most of my working life.

    Of course I have no clue what life would be like for you in Spain? but just about anywhere has to be better than living there in the Philippines and at aged 72yrs with potential health problems on the horizon, this should be the last place you should consider moving to, unless you have a death wish? over there that would soon come to fruition.

    Contrary to what many people may say I do not find it all that expensive to live here in UK as long as you own a Wee Hoose, my council tax and energy costs are exactly £400 a month for a 4 bed Bungalow, but living in a private rental is expensive around £1100 for a reasonable 2bed flat when you include tax and energy costs. roughly speaking I would say I spend another £400 a month on provisions, making my own Bread and Home Brew allows me to drink like a Lord and eat like a King, that recycled plastic they call Bread as sold in the shops will never pass my lips, I'd sooner dig up Marlyn Munroe and lick out her Puzzy. so my OAP covers my living costs and gives me a comfortable lifestyle, however that would not include running a Car, having a second company pension allows me to do that.

    You may find it hard to believe but you can buy Rice here cheaper than in Philippines, the problem there is their farming methods are just so backward they do not even have Tractors, they have to import Rice from elsewhere to sustain their needs and yet there is Areas down in Mindanao where the micro climate is so good it is possible to crop Rice three times a year, but they only ever do it once. As I mentioned before this really is the land of the stupid, would you really want to live in such a country?

    Cheers

    Honest Dave
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  9. Heathen
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    Heathen Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    Yes maybe Rice can be brought cheaper here than in Phills personally I have no idea if it's true or not, what I do know is in the area of Mindanao where my wifes family are from (Bukidnon) they do farm a little bit of rice and she reckons they have 2 crops per year, these are dictated to by the water supply because as you well know over recent years there have been a drought's and at times they struggle to get enough water for there own needs never mind to grow crops, when I was last there I saw for myself what used to be fast flowing rivers are now little more than streams.

    Back to Larry, if he has sufficient income to cover his future Health needs then it should not be a problem, if he does not then he is best staying where he is, and this is as you have more or less said why you have returned to the UK, but take it from me if I had a choice I would not be living here in the UK because it is not the UK that I was born in to, and it is not going to get any better what with the influx of citizens from mostly eastern europe and now the boat people issue the country is on a downward spiral which is more or less ireversable due in the main to weak willed politicians of all persuasions.
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  10. HONEST DAVE
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    HONEST DAVE Active Member

    Thank you for your reply, but I must reiterate what I had said earlier, Healthcare there in the Philippines is nothing like the standard we get here, OK I know we have to wait for this, over there many many professionals are Charlatans and the includes the Doctors, Larry is 72yrs of age, he tells us the healthcare in Spain is superior to UK standards? if he moves to PH there he is moist certainly going to find a healthcare service that is the complete opposite from what he has now, why on earth would an Auld Coffin Dodger want to put himself in such a position this makes absolutely no sense to me?

    At the time I did return to UK a German friend of mine was about to have a chest operation there in Dumaguete, but he decided to return back to his home country to have it done there where they told him it was not needed, this is not a one off this is what happens there time and time again.

    I was in Koronadal City in Mindanao a few years back and there I was to meet the Mayor who also happened to have a farm, it was him that told me about the possibility of the 3 rice crops, he was to point out to me that there is little of any seasons in that area and that every day it rains at 3.30pmn till 4 and then the sun comes out, sure enough this did happen for the 10 days I was there which was in June, Btw this is where the Dole company grows the Pineapples.

    If ever I write anything here it will be true at least to the best of my knowledge, Aldi sells a cheap long grain from their essentials range, this was cheaper than a low priced rice at a rice stall and likely better quality with no Fly Sh!t in it, however there is one there it of low quality named NFL which may have a Gov/subsidy? this was not considered in my comparison, the locals only buy this when it is dark and no one is around as it is considered cheapskate.

    You really have to live in a country for a longer term to really get to know it, so many of the consistent very regular posters on this site have never done this, some of which just love the sound of their own voices, but in truth they know so little of the reality of life there for an Ex-pat living there for the long term.
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  11. John Surrey
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    John Surrey Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    @HONEST DAVE makes a very good point regarding the standard of healthcare here - if you have anything serious wrong with you, it's almost suicidal to move here on a long term basis.

    Doc Willie Ong's cancer journey: Battling pain, guilt and healthcare disparities

    In a nutshell Dr Ong (a famous online health advocate here) had been diagnosed in Philippines with cancer and told he was going to die etc... went to a proper Hospital in Singapore (as most of the elite do here) and was back home in a month feeling fine!

    The other problem is the lack of professionalism and greed. Some of the Doctor's here will quite happily milk you dry and use the Ambulance, your expensive Insurer has provided, as their Taxi for shopping if it suits them.
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  12. John Surrey
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    John Surrey Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    Further, and this is what I'd call serious gossip:

    There's always been a bit of question mark over why so many people, with fairly innocuous illnesses, seem to die when they go to one of the local hospitals here... many are diagnosed with High blood or diabetes or both...

    Yesterday my wife told me one of her relatives, whose wife died, was approached by 3 lots of funeral service providers within an hour of his wife biting the dust... I mean the guy hadn't even got out of the hospital!
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  13. HONEST DAVE
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    HONEST DAVE Active Member

    Hi John, nice of you to pop in here and give your opinion as a long term resident Ex-pat living in the Philippines, there is just so few of us around here on this site that can be relied on to give good sound information of the reality of life for a Foreigner over there in the Philippines?
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  14. John Surrey
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    John Surrey Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    Thank you - been a while since I've heard a few horror stories ... then they come along like buses!
  15. CatchFriday
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    CatchFriday British Expat living in Alicante, Spain

    My wife's mother has just been in hospital in Surigoa City and her mother had her gall bladder removed - cost £4000! Hospital £80 a day.
    It amazes me how the hospital makes so much money, when it is in such a less affluent place.
    None of her family was able to contribute, just my wife and i cannot assist her.
  16. Heathen
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    Heathen Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    Probably be cheaper to fly her over and have surgery in Lithuania.

    https://www.nordbariatric.com/en/ga...YMbQX74NgYwYnJ7QLCaPtYOvel28ClB0aAvU9EALw_wcB

    or £2170 without S2 funding.
  17. John Surrey
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    John Surrey Well-Known Member Trusted Member

  18. bigmac
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    bigmac Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    A couple of years back I was in hospital for a week with severe pains up the middle of my chest . Several scans and tests revealed nothing. . So a consultant decided I should have my gall bladder removed although there was nothing wrong with it.
    He explained the body didn’t need it
    I declined

    No further symptoms .
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  19. CatchFriday
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    CatchFriday British Expat living in Alicante, Spain

    Well it's difficult to get a sick woman on a plane.......
    Too late! she's now postop......
  20. Heathen
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    Heathen Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    You should have asked earlier ;).

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