Package 2: Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act

The economic team of the Duterte administration has proposed to the Senate several amendments to the Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Reform Act (CITIRA), the second package of the Duterte administration’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP), which was passed on 3rd and final reading by the Lower House in September, 2019 and has now been renamed CREATE.

We are proposing to recalibrate the bill to make it more relevant and responsive to the needs of businesses negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to improve the ability of the Philippines to attract highly desirable investments that will serve the public interest.

The amendments make the proposed bill the first-ever revenue-eroding tax reform package proposed by the Department of Finance (DOF) and the largest fiscal stimulus program for enterprises in the country’s history. The revised bill also increases the ability of the President to approve tax and non-tax incentive packages to attract investments that will benefit the Filipino people.

The CITIRA bill, now the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act, was certified as urgent by President Duterte on March 9, 2020 and mentioned as a SONA priority this year as well as in previous years.

Legislative status

• House of Representatives: Approved on third and final reading (13 September 2019).
• Senate: Committee report filed (17 February 2020). Certified by the President for its immediate enactment on 9 March 2020. Currently under the period of interpellations.

Below is a summary of the economic team’s proposed amendments to Senate Committee Report No. 50, the current Ways and Means committee report on CITIRA:

• An immediate 5 percentage point cut in the corporate income tax (CIT) rate starting July 2020. The corporate income tax rate will be reduced further by 1 percentage point every year from 2023 to 2027. In the second half of this year alone, this will result in a reduction of government revenues estimated at around PHP 37 billion that all firms, especially the country’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), can use to fund their operations and retain employees. For the succeeding 5 years, the total estimate is about PHP 476.8 billion in foregone government revenues that these firms can invest in the revitalization of their businesses and to create even more jobs for Filipino workers. This unprecedented investment reflects our resolve to vigorously fight the impact of COVID-19 and get businesses back on their feet as quickly as possible.
• Maintaining for up to 9 years the status quo for registered business activities enjoying the 5 percent tax on gross income earned (GIE) incentive. The sunset period is prolonged by two years, from 2 to 7 years in the previous version, to 4 to 9 years under this proposal. This is a generous compromise for businesses that have been enjoying forever incentives, some for more than 40 years, which no other country offers.
• More flexibility for the President to grant a combination of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, which will be critical as the country competes internationally for high-value investments.

Even with these amendments, we maintain that the reform must continue to adhere to the basic principles of a system that is performance-based, targeted, time-bound, and transparent. These principles have been unanimously recognized by stakeholders during hearings and consultations. We believe that these amendments balance the interests of all stakeholders, while remaining faithful to the fundamental principles and mindful of the country’s fiscal challenges.

Why the reform is needed

Problem 1:

The Philippines currently imposes the highest CIT rate in the ASEAN region, which is a burden to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that are dealing with the effects of COVID-19. Even before the pandemic, the 30 percent CIT rate hindered local businesses from expanding, growing, and competing with their regional counterparts.

Solution 1:

CREATE seeks to vigorously fight the impact of COVID-19 and help get businesses back on their feet as quickly as possible. In the second half of this year alone, the accelerated reduction in the CIT rate will result in a reduction of government revenues estimated at around PHP 40 billion that all firms, especially the country’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), can use to fund their operations and retain employees. For the succeeding 5 years, the total estimate is about PHP 600 billion in foregone government revenues that these firms can invest in the revitalization of their businesses and to create even more jobs for Filipino workers. This unprecedented investment reflects our resolve to vigorously fight the impact of COVID-19 and get businesses back on their feet as quickly as possible.

The larger reduction will also bring the country’s CIT rate closer to the ASEAN average of almost 22 percent^[1] and will boost cost competitiveness in doing business. A lower CIT rate, combined with the country’s strong demographic and financial fundamentals, will strengthen the country’s case for more and better investments.

[1] Source: KPMG, Ernst & Young (EY)

Problem 2:

For decades, the Philippines has been too generous in granting tax incentives to a few investors, in perpetuity, and without a regular and in-depth review of the costs and benefits of doing so. We give away some of the most, if not the most, generous incentives in the region via a special rate of 5 percent on gross income earned (GIE) that is in lieu of all taxes, both local and national, and with no time limit.

While these companies are subjected to discounted tax rates equivalent to 6 to 13 percent of CIT, most other companies—including around 90,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs)—pay the regular rate of 30 percent.

In 2017 alone, the Filipino people granted PHP 441 billion (or 2.8 percent of GDP) in tax incentives to only 3,150 companies, including those on the elite list of Top 1,000 corporations. This is just a fifth below the annual budget of the Department of Education (DepEd) and roughly four times larger than that of the Department of Health (DOH) in the same year.

PHP 441 billion of foregone revenues in 2017 could have funded…

In principle, granting incentives is justifiable if the recipients generate a net benefit to society, such as the creation of good jobs, investing in less developed areas, and if incentives are given for a generous but reasonable amount of time — not forever.

Solution 2:

Modernizing the fiscal incentive system will allow the government to offer superior incentives that are performance-based, strategically targeted, time-bound, and fully transparent. It will encourage businesses to invest in industries and sectors aligned with the Philippine development agenda; create higher-value jobs; incentivize upskilling and employee training, and promote investments in less-developed areas, and areas recovering from calamities or armed conflict.

CREATE seeks to promote a fair and accountable tax incentives system to make sure that every peso granted as a tax incentive yields a net positive benefit to society.

Under Package 2, incentives will be:

Publications