The Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) is planning to set uniform charges on registered Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) with the investment promotion agencies (IPAs).
Finance Assistant Secretary and FIRB Secretariat Head Juvy Danofrata said on Thursday, April 21, that they will look into streamlining and rationalizing the huge fees collected by IPAs from their registered POGOs.
“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,” Danofrata said.
Based on the submissions of the IPAs to the FIRB, it was noted that 32 POGO licensees and service providers have registered with the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), and three service providers under the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB).
Meanwhile, five are under the Clark Development Corp. (CDC), and one registered service provider under the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
For CEZA, registered POGOs are required 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.
In terms of the application, processing, and renewal fees for e-casino and sports betting, the IPAs charge varying fees ranging from $10,000 to $25,000.
Meanwhile, 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.
Because of these varying fees, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III instructed the FIRB to look into the inconsistent charges set by the IPAs, “which most likely does not only apply to the POGOs registered under them.”
Danofrata noted 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 incentives process, the FIRB may prescribe the appropriate policy on how the IPAs will charge their respective fees.
Based on this CREATE mandate, the FIRB can review and rationalize the fees being imposed by IPAs on their registered locator-enterprises.