Philippines: TRAIN-II will not drive away investors: DOF

  • The Department of Finance (DOF) said the proposed reforms in the country’s tax incentives system would not drive away investors, adding that the provision of tax perks is not the main consideration of businesses in putting up shop in the country.
  • While it is important to provide incentives to businesses, Finance undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua said investors have listed more pressing concerns that need to be addressed for them to bring in more investments in the Philippines.
  • Citing a report by the 2017 World Economic Forum Survey, Chua said tax rates and incentives only ranked fifth among the concerns raised by investors.
  • The undersecretary said investors mentioned four more important issues that need to be fixed, such as the infrastructure gap, inefficiency of the government, corruption, and the high cost of doing business in the Philippines.
  • Chua said the Duterte administration remains keen on overhauling the current tax incentive regime in the country, as provided under the Package 2 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP).
  • The official clarified the second package does not intend to remove all fiscal incentives,but would rather harmonize and modernize the system to ensure the perks are targeted, time-bound, transparent and performance-based.
  • Chua said a cost benefit analysis is now being conducted by the government to determine the fiscal incentives that should be given to certain businesses.
  • He said incentives would still be provided as long as they qualify in the three-year Strategic Investment Priorities Plan (SIPP) and adhere to the key principles of being performance-based, time-bound, targeted, and transparent.

External Link : https://www.philstar.com/business/2018/03/19/1798039/tax-reform-will-not-drive-away-investors-department-finance

19-Mar-2018