#firb

From PEZA to BOI To recall, the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) has long supported the full reopening of the economy, as exhibited in their Resolution 019-21, and this mandate to "return to office" (RTO) included the BPO industry. This state of affairs was also backed by FIRB Resolution No. In a statement issued last June 10, Department of Finance (DOF) Assistant Secretary Juvy Danofrata indicated that the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) welcomes the decision of business process outsourcing (BPO) firm Concentrix to give up fiscal incentives in exchange for maintaining its hybrid work scheme for their employees. To recall, the FIRB decided via Resolution 19-21 to allow the hybrid work scheme only until March 31, 2022, with work-from-home (WFH) or work-from-anywhere (WFX) available for up to 90 percent of BPO workers. The FIRB also maintained WFH as temporary, while directing their policies towards fully reopening the economy. She also saw the FIRB stance as "sending wrong signals that the government is only after taxes." Earlier, PEZA has decided to issue letters of authority to allow approved locators to implement up to 30 percent WFH. In a subsequent statement issued June 15, meanwhile, the FIRB cited PEZA as "clueless" on actual investments made by locators since the implementation of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act, citing 12 of 196 PEZA-registered business enterprises (RBEs) having no information on investment capital. Read more in our articles including "Full work-from-home setup for BPOs: Will it cause a provincial shift?" and "Gov't says tax incentives 'not that important' for BPOs as RTO mandate remains".