DOF: Fiscal perks not ‘top-of-mind’ consideration to BPO investors
The Department of Finance (DOF) believes that fiscal perks are no longer the “top-of-mind” of prospective foreign investors that are interested in locating in the Philippines.
This comes as Concentrix, the country’s largest Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firm, decided to forego its tax breaks to continue its remote working arrangement.
DOF Assistant Secretary Juvy Danofrata said that this decision “validates the DOF’s policy thrust to avoid the grant of unnecessary tax incentives as this is apparently not the main consideration for them to do business in the country, especially for the BPO firms that have been enjoying the exemptions and incentives for a long time.”
The Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) is an interagency board overseeing the grant of revenue-eroding tax perks to qualified investors.
The DOF earlier said that the record-high foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in 2021, despite tax perk-seeking projects trending lower during preceding years, meant that more and more foreigners investing in the Philippines were no longer in need of fiscal incentives.
For the DOF, investors are interested in the country not for its tax benefits, but its robust consumption-driven domestic market and young, educated Filipino workforce.
