P1.3 trillion projects under CREATE get tax perks

MANILA, Philippines — The government has approved over 1,200 projects worth P1.27 trillion since the enactment of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Law.

Data from the Department of Finance (DOF) showed that total investment capital from approved priority activities with incentives under the CREATE Law has already reached P1.27 trillion.

Approved applications covered August 2021 up to end-June.

The bulk, or 75 percent of the investment capital, worth P953.06 billion, was approved by the Cabinet-level Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB).

This is equivalent to some 57 big-ticket tax incentive projects in information and communication technology, transportation and storage, manufacturing, energy, economic zone operation, mass housing, tourism, human health activities and IT-business process management.

The remaining 25 percent, or P313.32 billion, were from investment promotion agencies (IPAs) covering 1,182 projects.

Further, the over 1,200 projects are expected to generate some 159,486 jobs within its incentivized period, with the labor-intensive manufacturing sector having the highest number of approved projects among the priority sectors.

Under the law, IPAs approve the incentives of projects below P15 billion, while the FIRB selects the tax perks for business activities above P15 billion.

CREATE cut corporate income tax rates to make them comparable to those in the ASEAN region.

The law also adopted a simpler and more effective fiscal incentives system, ensuring that incentives are performance-based, time-bound, targeted, and transparent.

Incentivized projects and activities under the structural tax reform aim to achieve performance metrics and ensure that fiscal support is granted to registered business enterprises, leading to higher economic returns.