• update Refund of DST on Secondary Trading - dst law signed by pgma june 30, 2009.  all dst collected since march 20 2009 will be refunded as by law! broker will submit refund request form to AAB authorized agent banks.
• In the year 2003, The Documentary Stamp Tax Bill 2158 authored by then Senator Ralph Recto reduced the DST by almost half (computation below), but was short lived due to the suspension of DST altogether for fiver years since Feb 2004.
• In 2004, Congress passed Republic Act 9243 which "rationalized" the DST structure and suspended the DST on stock transactions for five years.
• Last March 16, 2009, the House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill permanently exempting the sale, barter or exchange of shares of stock listed in the stock exchange from documentary stamp tax (DST). House Bill No. 4900, principally authored by Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo M. Angara, was approved before the House went into recess on March 6 for its month-long Lenten break.
• Reimplementation of Doc Stamp Charges March 20, 2009
• DST Abolition Senate Bill No. 3203 Filed on May 4, 2009 by Angara, Edgardo J., Lacson, Panfilo M., Zubiri, Juan Miguel F., Gordon, Richard "Dick" J.  is approved on second reading last May 19, 2009.
• Final Reading by the Senate on Bill 3203 was approved last Monday, May 25, 2009, and is awaiting the Presidential signature.

Mr. Lacson said that the Senate version is the same as House Bill 4900 — the version approved on third reading by the House of Representatives last April 13.

Since both Senate and House versions contain the same provisions — and as soon as the Senate approves this bill on final reading — both chambers will no longer have to convene a bicameral conference committee, which meets to harmonize conflicting provisions in the versions of the chambers. "We will not discuss anything in the bicameral conference committee. Once the bill is passed, it’s already an enrolled bill [for ratification by both chambers and for the President’s signature]," Mr. Lacson explained.

Teresa S. Habitan, Finance director for planning and fiscal policy, said in a phone interview that the government stands to lose P1.4 billion from the bill, based on 2007 data. "We oppose the measure because of the revenue impact. We just want an exemption for another five years," she said.

Finance Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran said that while the department opposes the bill, "we know the difficulties of the stock market."

Other fees and taxes investors in the stock market pay are:

• a brokerage commission, involving a maximum of 1.5% of the transaction cost plus VAT;
• a transfer fee of P100 plus VAT;
• a cancellation fee of P20 plus VAT; and
• a Securities Clearing Corp. of the Philippines fee of 0.0001 x value of transaction.

Now that it is on the desk of President Gloria Arroyo, can she enact it into law before congress adjourns for sine die adjournment, which has no sessions from  June 6, 2009 to July 26, 2009?

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