BPO sector may get tax relief

Investments in the business process outsourcing (BPO) will receive tax breaks and other incentives from the government after it has been identified as one of the anchors of the Philippine economy.

“The BPO players buoyed the Philippine economy through volatile economic patterns in the last eight years,” Board of Investment (BOI) managing head Elmer C. Hernandez said in a statement.

In fact, Hernandez said the BPO sector is one of the prime foreign exchange earners next to remittances from the OFWs.

For this year, the BOI has already included BPO investments in the Investments Priorities Plan (IPP) under selected export services.

“With this recognition, BPO-oriented investments could prospectively be rendered fiscal and non-fiscal incentives,” Hernandez, who is also a Trade Undersecretary added.

The BOI is looking at building a highly competitive business environment to attract and increase profitability while providing a stable policy framework for long-term economic benefits. Coupled with service quality and efficiency, this strategy makes the local service providers even more viable. 

Earlier, the BPO industry is expecting big investments from the banking and finance as the BPO sector branches out from the usual call center activities.

“Right now the trend is more investments from the banking and finance. It is a captive sector,” Oscar Sanez, Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) president said. 

According to Sanez, right now the big part of the industry is made up of call centers. However, he said the plan is to move into more specialized high value operations.

Meanwhile, the industry is on track to meet its year end growth target as it employed 345,000 workers during the first half of the year.

“The industry employed 345,000 workers for the first six months of the year and we are hoping that we will meet our yearend target of 420,000,” Sanez said.