General Santos

Salary from a foreign employer or fees from foreign clients

Taxed25% of gross for non-resident aliens not doing business; 0%–35% progressive after 180 days or if doing business; or 8% of gross receipts for eligible freelancers

The exemption for foreign income does not cover most remote work. Section 42(A)(3) of the Tax Code treats compensation for labor or personal services performed in the Philippines as Philippine-source income, and the Supreme Court held in CIR v. Baier-Nickel (2006) that the source of service income is where the services are actually rendered, not where the payer lives or where you are paid. So salary from a foreign employer or fees from foreign clients for work done while you are in the Philippines is taxable from the first day; work done while abroad is foreign-source (section 42(C)(3)). A non-resident alien not doing business pays a final 25% on the gross amount (section 25(B)). Past 180 days in a calendar year, or if you are found to be carrying on a business or profession, the 0%–35% graduated rates apply to net income, as they do to resident aliens. Freelancers with receipts up to ₱3,000,000 can elect 8% instead (see regimes). No Philippine payer withholds this tax, so you would register with the BIR and file yourself; the BIR lists aliens with Philippine-source income among those who must file. A tax treaty between the Philippines and your country of residence may exempt employment income of a short-stay visitor paid by a foreign employer; conditions differ by treaty, so check yours. We found no official guidance on whether foreigners paid from abroad must join the Social Security System, so this profile does not cover it.

On the nomad visa

Executive Order 86 of 24 April 2025 lets the Department of Foreign Affairs issue a one-year, renewable Digital Nomad Visa to remote workers whose employers or clients are outside the Philippines, and bars holders from Philippine employment. It contains no tax provision: the BIR is named only as one of the agencies that help set up the programme, and we found no BIR rule for DNV holders. Holders are therefore taxed like any other foreigner: foreign investment income is not taxed, but pay for work done while in the Philippines is Philippine-source in law. Bills such as House Bill 2600 (filed 30 July 2025) would declare DNV holders non-resident and their foreign employer's pay not Philippine-source; we found no enacted version as of 27 October 2026, and the BIR's consolidated Tax Code shows no such change. Claims online that DNV holders are exempt trace back to these bills. Visitors who enter visa-free for 30 days and extend at the Bureau of Immigration are under the same rules.

Dividends, interest, gains, rent and pensions from abroad

Not taxed

Dividends from foreign companies, interest from foreign payers, rent from property abroad and pensions for work done abroad are foreign-source income (Tax Code section 42(C)), and foreigners are taxed only on Philippine-source income (section 23(D)), so they are not taxed whether or not you are resident or bring the money in. There are edge cases. Dividends from a foreign company that earned 50% or more of its gross income in the Philippines over the previous three years are partly Philippine-source (section 42(A)(2)(b)). Gains on shares of a Philippine company are always Philippine-source, while gains on other personal property are sourced in the country where it is sold (section 42(E)); the Code does not say where a sale through a foreign online broker takes place, and it has no specific rule for crypto-assets, so this profile does not say how those gains are treated. Philippine investments are taxed: bank interest at a final 20%, dividends from Philippine companies at 10% for resident aliens (20% or 25% for non-residents), listed Philippine shares at 0.1% of the sale price, unlisted shares at 15% of the net gain, and Philippine real estate at 6% of the higher of price or market value. These rates reflect the Capital Market Efficiency Promotion Act (RA 12214) as shown in the BIR's consolidated Tax Code.

Net wealth and inheritance

No wealth taxInheritance tax applies

There is no annual net wealth tax. Estate tax is 6% of the net estate (Tax Code section 84), and the catch for long-stayers is scope: a resident alien's estate includes property wherever situated, with a ₱5,000,000 standard deduction and the family home exempt up to ₱10,000,000, while a non-resident alien's estate covers only property situated in the Philippines, with a ₱500,000 deduction (sections 85, 86 and 104). Donor's tax is 6% of gifts above ₱250,000 a calendar year (section 99) and likewise reaches gifts of foreign property unless the donor is a non-resident alien. Local governments levy real property tax of up to 1% of assessed value in provinces or 2% in Metro Manila cities and municipalities, plus 1% for the Special Education Fund (Local Government Code sections 233 and 235), and a transfer tax of up to 0.5% of the price, which cities may raise by up to 50% (sections 135 and 151). On a sale of Philippine real estate the seller also pays the 6% capital gains tax, and the deed bears documentary stamp tax of ₱15 per ₱1,000 (1.5%) (Tax Code section 196).

Tax resident after

180 days a year

Top income tax rate

35%

When you become tax resident

The Tax Code has no day count for residence itself: a resident alien is simply a foreigner "whose residence is within the Philippines" (section 22(F)), which turns on facts and intent. What does count days is section 25(A)(1): a non-resident alien who stays in the Philippines more than 180 days in total during a calendar year is deemed to be doing business there, and moves from a final 25% tax on gross Philippine-source income to the 0–35% graduated rates on net income. Neither status brings foreign income into tax, because every foreigner, resident or not, is taxed only on income from Philippine sources (section 23(D)). So for a nomad or tourist the 180-day line decides the rate on local income, including pay for remote work done in the country, not whether foreign income is taxed. Citizens are different: a Filipino living in the Philippines is taxed on worldwide income.

Top income tax rate

35% on taxable income above ₱8,000,000 under the schedule in force since 1 January 2023 (0% up to ₱250,000, then 15%, 20%, 25%, 30% and 35%). Non-resident aliens not doing business pay a flat 25% of gross Philippine-source income instead.