DTI wants tax perks for small businesses

Alfredo Pascual—MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is contemplating giving newly registered small businesses exemption from various regulatory requirements, including payment of income tax for several years.

“For large investors, we are prepared to give them incentives, [such as a 10-year] tax holiday. How can we not consider giving the same thing to small businesses,” Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said.

He said the department has already consulted with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and was now drafting a framework of tax perks for small businesses.

“[BIR Commissioner Lilia Guillermo] is receptive to the idea [of developing] the mechanics for doing this,” he said, adding that the DTI was also working with local government units since most of the paper works are done at the grassroots level.

Distracted by voluminous regulatory requirements and red tape, many businesses fail early on because they are not able to focus on their operations, according to Pascual.

The DTI said it would also soon roll out an e-commerce platform for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) where businesses could avail themselves of financing options and submit paperwork.

Speaking at an MSME summit in Manila organized by the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion, Pascual said the platform would make it much easier for entrepreneurs to start a small business and comply with government requirements.

“Because with digitized data, it is very easy to accumulate data and prepare algorithms to analyze data,” Pascual said, explaining an organized repository would also allow users to determine the credit score of a registered business.

In effect, the platform would allow small business to reach a wider market, he said.

“This is already being done by one of our partners and we will roll it out in the DTI-sponsored e-commerce platform,” he added.

—Alden M. Monzon