Before a person can be prosecuted and convicted for insider trading, he must first execute the overt act of trading. If no sale of security is consummated, no crime is also consummated. However, through a complex and insidious combination of various financial instruments, one can capture the...

On February 6, 2017, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (“BSP”) issued the Guidelines for Virtual Currency Exchanges (BSP Circular No. 944, or “Circular”), providing the rules and regulations governing operations of Virtual Currency (“VC”) Exchanges in the Philippines. The Circular is...

The nationality of stockholders holding majority voting rights can determine a corporation's capacity to engage in partially nationalized economic activities. However, minority stockholders can hold a degree of voting power higher than what their shareholding size might suggest. This makes it...

In short sales, capital gains are realized upon the replacement of the borrowed stock, and not upon its disposition by the short seller. Therefore, a taxpayer can simultaneously own a share of stock and short sell an identical stock to effectually dispose a share of stock without triggering a...

The definition of deposit substitutes in Philippine tax law fails to consider the maturity of a debt instrument. This makes it possible for long-term bonds to be considered as deposit substitutes if they meet the 20-lender rule, taxable at 20% final tax. However, long-term debt instruments...