The Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) is planning on streamlining and rationalizing the fees collected by investment promotion agencies (IPAs) from their registered Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), the Department of Finance (DOF) said Thursday.
The FIRB’s plan was pursuant to the order of its chairman, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.
“Clearly, there is no uniformity in the fees charged by the IPAs to their registered POGO companies when in fact, they all fall under the same type of project,” said Finance Assistant Secretary and FIRB Secretariat head Juvy Danofrata.
“The FIRB Secretariat has been instructed by Secretary and Board chairman Dominguez to look into the inconsistent charges set by the IPAs, which most likely does not only apply to the POGOs registered under them, with the end view of streamlining the collection and use of such fees charged investors or locators,” said Danofrata.
The Finance department said that, for example, the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) requires its registered POGOs to pay $200,000 for the application and processing fee and $500,000 to avail of a master license, which is applicable for interactive gaming and land-based casinos.
For e-casino and sports betting, the IPAs charge varying fees ranging from $10,000 to $25,000, it added.
For the POGO service providers including those offering business process outsourcing (BPO) and information technology (IT) support services, the application, processing, and renewal fees normally range from $10,000 to $50,000, according to the DOF.
With the varying fees being charged to POGOs, the DOF said that under Section 297 (A) of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) of 1997, as amended by the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act, the FIRB has been given the mandate to exercise policy-making and oversight functions on the administration and grant of tax incentives.
“Since the imposition of fees by the IPAs is an integral part of the incentivization process, the FIRB may prescribe the appropriate policy on how the IPAs will charge their respective fees,” the DOF said.
It said that the FIRB can review and rationalize the fees being imposed by IPAs on their registered locator-enterprises.
Citing the submissions of the IPAs to the FIRB Secretariat, the DOF said that 32 POGO licensees and their service providers have registered with the CEZA, three service providers under the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB), five under the Clark Development Corporation (CDC), and one registered service provider under the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA). — BM, GMA News
Fiscal incentives board to streamline IPAs” fee collection from POGOs
Source: News Panda Philippines
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