Hundreds of BPOs’ tax perks hang as transfer deadline looms
More than two-thirds of the firms in the Philippines’ $30-billion business process outsourcing (BPO) industry stand to lose their tax perks after the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) revealed that less than a third of the 1,088 registered firms had fully complied with the requirements to maintain their fiscal incentives two days before the deadline.
The paperwork to complete the transfer of the Information Technology and Business Process Management firms from the jurisdiction of Peza to the Board of Investment (BOI) by year-end is necessary for them to keep their tax incentives while allowing employees to work from home.
According to Peza, only 351 out of the 1,088 applications have been completed as of Dec. 12, just several days before they stop accepting submissions on the 16th of the month.
“We are actually asking the BOI if we could still receive applications [until] December 31, as indicated in the FIRB (Fiscal Incentives Review Board) [resolution]. But then, BOI would not extend [the period for] endorsement,” Peza officer in charge Deputy Director General for Operations Vivian Santos told reporters.
“In order for Peza to endorse on or before Dec 31, we need to also come up with a deadline,” she added. —
