‘Createing’ better opportunities for taxpayers

Feb. 3, 2021 marked the ratification of the bicameral committee report on the disagreeing provisions of House Bill 4157 and Senate Bill 1357 for the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (Create) Bill. Since late 2018, steps had already been taken to revisit and reform the corporate tax provisions of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended, to which the legislators included the tax incentives available to qualified business enterprises that were not mentioned in the 1997 and 2018 versions of the Tax Code.

After a series of deliberations in Congress, clamor from local and foreign investors for clarity, and a name-change in September 2019 from the original title of Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-quality Opportunities or Trabaho to Create, the so-called Package 2 of the government’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Program is now closer to becoming law. We are just waiting for President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature.