Philippine banks to put PEACe bond tax in escrow

Eight local lenders asked the court to stop the government from imposing a 20% tax on interest income from Php35b worth of bonds.

According to a Bloomberg report, the Philippine Supreme Court ordered banks to place tax payment on so-called PEACe bonds in an escrow, spokesman Midas Marquez said today in Manila.

The high court didn’t issue a restraining order sought by Philippine banks, Marquez said. Eight local lenders yesterday asked the court to stop the government from imposing and collecting a 20 percent tax on interest income from 35 billion pesos worth of bonds due today. The government expects to collect almost 5 billion pesos in taxes from the bonds.