Subic Bay Freeport – Locators in the country’s premier Freeport were briefed on the latest amendments on the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) of the Department of Finance on May 15.
According to SBMA Chairman and Administrator Eduardo Jose L. Aliño, the said Locators’ Briefing held at the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center (SBECC) aims to provide information and updates on the CREATE Act to companies here.
The FIRB delegation is composed of Legal Group OIC and Deputy Executive Director Atty. Michael Ricaza, Legal Group Attorney IV Atty. Brandon L. Berad, Monitoring and Evaluation Group Division Chief Lois Ruth Santiago, Financial Analyst II Atty. Ria Mariz Nadora and Financial Analyst II Jessa Mae Rapisora.
The FIRB is an inter-agency government body authorized by the Philippine law to grant tax incentives to registered business enterprises, whose powers and functions were enhanced under CREATE Act.
Meanwhile, Aliño said that the forum participants consisted of company representatives of Subic Freeport companies engaged in general business, logistics, import/ export, and trading.
“The feedback we gather from our locators will provide better insight to the agency on its operations, relative to the CREATE Act,” Aliño added.
Last year, Nidec Subic Philippines Corporation gained the unanimous approval of the FIRB, and passed the scrutiny of the eight agency-member FIRB Technical Committee.
With the approval of the FIRB en banc, Nidec Subic is now entitled to Income Tax Holiday for six years, Special Corporate Income Tax for ten years, Duty-Exemption on Importation for 16 years, Value-Added Tax (VAT) Exemption on Importation for 16 years, and VAT Zero-Rating on Local Purchase for 16 years.
Nidec’s application for the said incentives is synchronized with the CREATE Act that aims to steer the national economy towards global competitiveness by implementing tax policies that are instrumental in attracting investments. (Malou Dun
