THE Board of Investments (BoI) said it counts 12 registered projects as eligible to transfer to the incentive regime offered by the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy (CREATE MORE) Act.
In an advisory dated Dec. 18, the BoI said the 12 eligible registered business enterrises (RBEs) have current projects with investment capital exceeding P15 billion registered during the effectivity of the CREATE Act, the precursor to CREATE MORE.
BoI Managing Head and Trade Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo said that the law requires the RBEs to submit a affidavit of intent to transfer and file an application by Dec. 31.
“In our records there are 12 companies that have above P15- billion investments that are registered and they can now transfer to the CREATE MORE regime,” Mr. Rodolfo said in an online briefing Thursday.
“We don’t have the numbers yet for those looking to transfer from CREATE to CREATE MORE, but the discussions are ongoing,” he added.
He said that the enhanced incentives of CREATE MORE will have a greater bearing on those projects whose costs are over P15 billion, as they will need to go through the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB).
Under the law, FIRB -approved projects can enjoy a longer period of incentives of between 24 to 27 years depending on the industry tier and project location.
The advisory also set the same deadline for pre-CREATE projects seeking to transfer to a CREATE Act regime. According to the BoI, there are 275 pre-CREATE projects that may qualify to adopt a CREATE regime.
Of the 275, 119 RBEs are operating but have not availed of the income tax holiday (ITH) incentive, while 156 RBEs have not yet started operations and therefore have also not availed of the ITH incentive.
Meanwhile, 82 RBEs registered prior to CREATE have signified intent to transfer as of Dec. 19.
In a memorandum circular in May, the BoI said that the pre-CREATE projects with approved transfer of registration to a CREATE regime will need to meet performance standards involving investment capital, job generation, an export threshold, and technology requirements.
Other performance commitments include related-party sales limits, minimum tax payments, domestic purchase requirements, quality of service, and other standards that will be imposed by the investment promotion agency or the FIRB.
Meanwhile, Mr. Rodolfo said the BoI, despite its aggressive push for investments, will remain prudent in handing out fiscal incentives.
“In pursuing industrial development by using fiscal incentives as one of the tools for attracting investment, we have been a steadfast partner of the Department of Finance and of the FIRB in ensuring that we maintain the government’s fiscal health,” he said.
“In this particular case, the BoI made sure that in implementing the CREATE provisions for the transfer, there will be no double-dipping across incentive regimes, and only those who contemplated CREATE incentives and those who actually need these will be allowed to transfer,” he added.
According to the BoI, applications with affidavits of intent filed beyond the period will not be considered. It said however that scanned copies may be submitted via e-mail at lcssubmission@boi.gov.ph, pending submission of the original copies. — Justine Irish D. Tabile
