BPOs get more time to retain tax perks

AFP FILE PHOTO

Business process outsourcing (BPO) firms that are registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) which have not yet transferred their registration to the Board of Investments (BOI) have until Jan. 31 to do so, according to the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB).

This means an extension by one month of the Dec. 31 deadline for information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) service providers to switch to the BOI without losing the perks they enjoyed with their Peza registration.

Headed by the Department of Finance, the FIRB said there were about 640 such companies that have yet to register with the BOI.

On Sept. 14, 2022, the FIRB resolved the long-standing work-from-home (WFH) issue of the IT-BPM sector by accepting the WFH arrangement as the new business model of most enterprises that are registered with incentive-giving bodies like Peza.

Because of the mobility restrictions imposed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, BPO firms had to resort to WFH arrangement to continue their operations.

But since the terms of incentives such as tax holidays granted by Peza required that registered companies operate on-premises or within the ecozones, the FIRB resolved that affected firms may retain their perks by transferring to the BOI.

FIRB’s interagency board recognized the need to extend the initial Dec. 31 deadline as only about 40 percent of affected companies have submitted the requirements on time. —Ronnel W. Domingo