By Alden M. Monzon

@AldenMonzonINQ

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) on Tuesday said it would still accept applications from business process outsourcing (BPO) firms that want to transfer to the Board of Investments (BOI), extending the period of submission until around the middle of this month.

Peza Officer in Charge and Director General Tereso Panga told the Inquirer they would need about two weeks before the deadline set by the Fiscal Incentives Review Board to process and endorse the paperwork to the other investment promotion agency.

Panga said this was in support of the resolution from the Fiscal Incentives Review Board, which extended the deadline until Jan 31 of this year.

These Peza-registered BPO companies were given temporary leeway starting April of 2022, with the government allowing them to have a work-from-home setup for their employees without loss of incentives until September 12 of last year.

These companies continued to enjoy tax incentives from the government despite 30 percent of their employees working from home owing to difficulties and safety concerns caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The period was further extended until the end of the 2022 to allow them to transfer their registration to the BOI, where they will not be limited where they can conduct their business operations to avail of tax perks from the government.

The Peza official said they were able to endorse all 453 registered business firms except one due to incomplete submission of requirements.

These registered business firms comprise nearly 42 percent of the 1,088 registered business firms under the information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) sector, according to Panga.

"Many of them also want to stay within the 30 percent cap work-from-home policy of Peza," Panga said when asked about the low turnout of business firms who submitted transfer applications.

Trade Secretary Alfred Pascual, who sits as Peza chair, said last month that it was up to individual companies to decide whether they want to avail themselves of the option to transfer from the Peza to the BOI.

The local BPO sector vehemently clamored for the adoption of a work-from-home policy under Peza's incentives framework last year, strongly urging the government to implement this measure to help keep the $30-billion BPO industry competitive.

The IT-BPM Process Association of the Philippines still eventually welcomed the solution from the government to allow their member firms to simply transfer to the BOI instead to avoid the loss of tax incentives. INQ