BIR to do RTO compliance inspections
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will start ocular inspections of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms to see if they are complying with the government’s 100% return-to-office (RTO) mandate.
According to a report given by BIR Deputy Revenue Commissioner Arnel Guballa to Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, the bureau has already formed a task force. It also issued orders to inspect BPO companies registered with investment promotion agencies (IPAs).
BIR said they were also tasked to collect monthly income taxes from BPOs whose returning workforce will fall short of the full capacity required by the mandate.
This is part of the Fiscal Incentives Review Board’s (FIRB) ruling, which ordered outsourcing agencies to return to their offices starting April 1 or risk losing their tax incentives.
FIRB secretariat head and DOF Assistant Secretary Juvy Danofrata explained that under Section 309 of the Tax Code — as amended by the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act — IPA-registered projects and activities must be conducted within economic zones or freeports to be entitled to fiscal incentives handed out by the government.
