Japan and the Philippines have agreed to begin negotiations on tax treaty revisions that complement trade and investment in order to boost the effects of the economic partnership agreement reached in principle in November.
The current tax treaty rates with the Philippines are among the highest of the 55 nations that Japan has treaties with and may be responsible for hampering investment in the Philippines by Japanese companies. Stock dividends from Philippine firms received by Japanese concerns are assessed a tax rate of up to 25%, which is well above the rates of other Asian countries such as, Indonesia, South Korea, China and Vietnam.
Japan is anticipating similar discussion on treaty revisions with India and negotiations are already underway with the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.