Philippine travel tax - and why most UK Filipinos should not be paying it

Magkano at sino ang nagbabayad

The Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) sets the full travel tax at PHP 1,620 for economy class and PHP 2,700 for first class. It is charged on people leaving the Philippines, not arriving, and it applies to citizens of the Philippines, to taxable foreign passport holders, and to non-immigrant foreign passport holders who have stayed in the Philippines for more than one year. A British visitor on a two-week holiday is not paying it. A Filipino passport holder, in principle, is - unless one of the exemptions below applies, and for our customers one usually does.

The exemptions that cover most people reading this

TIEZA publishes the full exemption list. Four categories matter to UK-based Filipinos.

You have been out of the Philippines for at least a year. A Filipino citizen continuously outside the Philippines for at least one year is a balikbayan and is exempt. Evidence: the identification page of your passport plus the pages showing your last departure and latest arrival, and the airline ticket you travelled on.

You are a Filipino permanent resident abroad and your stay in the Philippines will be less than a year. Evidence: passport identification page and last arrival stamp, plus your original permanent residence card - or, in a country that does not grant permanent resident status, a Certification of Residence from the Philippine Embassy. TIEZA notes that first-time immigrants are not yet qualified.

You are a former Filipino citizen, naturalised abroad, staying not more than one year. Your spouse and children also qualify if they are Filipino passport holders travelling with you - evidence being the marriage certificate or birth certificates.

You are an OFW - covered on our OEC page.

Children and the reduced rate

A reduced rate applies to minors from two years and one day old up to their twelfth birthday on the date of travel, on production of the passport or birth certificate. TIEZA publishes the current reduced amounts on its reduced travel tax page - we will not quote a figure here that we have not checked on the day you book, because it is exactly the kind of number that goes stale on a website and costs somebody money at the airport.

If you have already paid it

TIEZA states that those who have paid the full rate but were eligible for the reduced rate may apply for a refund of the excess, on site at any TIEZA Travel Tax Office or airport counter. There is also an online travel tax service. If you think you have been charged travel tax you did not owe, it is worth asking us - we can tell you which category you fall into and what to bring.

Checked on 22 August 2026 - and please check again before you fly

Entry rules are set and enforced by the Philippine authorities and they do change. Everything on this page was checked against the official source on 22 August 2026: TIEZA full travel tax, TIEZA travel tax exemption and TIEZA reduced travel tax. We are a UK travel agency, not an immigration adviser, so treat this as a plain-English starting point rather than legal advice - and if your situation is unusual, check with the Philippine Embassy in London. What we will do is go through your paperwork with you before you pay for anything, so nobody finds out at the check-in desk.

Kami na ang bahala - we check this with you before you book

Most of the trouble we see is not complicated, it is just late: a passport with five months left, an eTravel QR nobody registered, a travel tax that did not need paying. When you book your flights home with us we go through all of it with you first, in Tagalog, Bisaya or English. And the trip itself stays affordable - secure your seats with a deposit from GBP 49 and pay the balance in instalments, hulugan ang natitira. Ask for our free 48-hour hold if you need to check dates with family: we hold the seat and the price and you pay nothing while you decide. Selected fares carry up to 40kg of bagahe, and we offer an NHS discount - say so when you enquire if you work for the NHS.

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