PEZA endorses 163 IT-BPM firms to BoI

OVER 100 information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) projects worth nearly P14 billion have been endorsed by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) for Board of Investments (BoI) registration.

In a statement, the BoI said it was processing 55 of the 163 projects that had paid the administrative fee. The combined value of all projects was placed at P13.9 billion.

This is in line with the transfer of IT-BPM companies to the BoI from the PEZA following a Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) resolution that allowed them to keep their perks and also implement work-from-home arrangements.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, IT-BPM firms were allowed to implement work-from-home or hybrid work arrangements despite the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (Create) Act mandating that the perks should only be enjoyed by companies operating within economic zones.

In October, the Department of Trade and Industry’s issued Memorandum Circular 22-19 that further clarified the FIRB resolution. Registered business enterprises (RBEs), it said, have until the end of the year to transfer their registration to the BoI.

Those who do not “exercise the option shall no longer be allowed to register and shall be covered by Sec. 309 of Create,” the Trade department said.

Fiscal and non-fiscal incentives that RBEs are enjoying under their original registration or under the Tax Code or other laws, “shall not be affected, provided that the registration with the concerned IPA (investment promotion agency) is maintained by the covered RBE.”

“After the lapse of the period of the remaining tax incentives, the existing registered project of the covered RBEs shall not be entitled to additional incentives, unless the activity qualifies as a new investment or qualified expansion under the Strategic Investment Priority Plan (SIPP), subject to a separate application for registration,” the Trade department added.