MANILA — Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros has assailed as “inconsistent” with the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Law the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) drafted and implemented by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
In a resolution she filed on Sept. 22, Hontiveros said the BIR’s IRR appears to be inconsistent with the language and spirit of the law, which makes value-added tax exemptions on importation and zero rating of domestic purchases available to both export and domestic enterprises.
She added that 212 domestic industries will be affected, while discouraging other domestic firms from registering with investment promotions agencies (IPAs), including special economic and freeport zones.
In Clark and Subic freeport zones, many locators and industries are not involved in exports, thus denying them of VAT exemptions which they used to enjoy.
Hontiveros called for the convening of the Congressional Oversight Committee on the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program to remedy “the apparent inconsistency between the CREATE Law and its IRR.”
The Clark Investors and Locators Association comprised of business enterprises at the Clark freeport has been raising the issue, and has indicated plans to challenge the BIR before the Court of Tax Appeals.
