This was just informed to me by the Western Union branch I frequent — WU will start charging for Documentary Stamp Tax (DST) from July 1, 2008 and onwards.
DST rates aren’t that high though. The announcement says it’s Php0.30 for every Php200 or just about 0.15% of total amount remitted.
Here’s a sample computation they gave:
Amount Remitted: Php2,000
DST Deduction: Php3.00
Amount Remitted: Php10,000
DST Deduction: Php15.00
Amount Remitted: Php50,000
DST Deduction: Php75.00
Amount Remitted: Php100,000
DST Deduction: Php150.00
And yes, this includes all AdSense Publishers who opted to get remittance via Western Union (DST Section 18 of the 1997 Tax Code, Republic Act 9243).
Well it sucks, but anyway, 0.15% is not that big