New law gives TIEZA power to grant incentives

Under the current law, TIEZA has only until August 2019 to grant its incentives. (File Photo: TIEZA – Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority/Facebook)

MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte has signed a new law giving the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) sole and exclusive jurisdiction to grant incentives to tourism enterprise zones (TEZs) until December 31, 2029.

The new law or Republic Act 11262, which Duterte signed on April 10, 2019, amends sections of Republic Act 9593 otherwise known as The Tourism Act of 2009 to allow the incentives scheme to tourism enterprises to be implemented for another 10 years.

Under the current law, TIEZA has only until August 2019 to grant its incentives.

The incentives include income tax holidays for a period of six years, a 5 percent preferential tax on gross income, exemptions on all taxes and customs duties on the importation of capital equipment, and exemption of transportation equipment and spare parts from tariffs and duties.

“In the grant of incentives, it shall give equal preference to large investments, those with great potential for employment generation and those of local small and medium enterprises. Registered tourism enterprises owned and operated by overseas Filipino investors shall enjoy the same incentives granted to TEZ operators and registered enterprises in general,” the law read.

To prevent abuse of the incentives, TIEZA may also coordinate with the Bureaus of Customs and Internal Revenue.

It also encourages local government units to provide incentives for tourism enterprises through, among others, reductions in applicable real estate taxes and waivers of fees and charges among others.

This Act, which is a consolidation of Senate Bill 1616 and House Bill 8861, was passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on February 6, 2019.